The Beginning of the End
by San Diego Jacket
Summary: Takes place after "Gideon Rises". For the last few weeks, Bill has pestered Dipper about some plan of his, only missing two things: "Glasses" and "Llama". Meanwhile, the Flynn-Fletchers and Nicole Bonabel have won a trip to Gravity Falls, while Nicole gets weird dreams about a triangle and "Pine Tree". Is it a coincidence? Or is something more at play? Rated for later chapters.
1. A Surprise Trip

_**A/N: Hi, everyone! If you don't know already, this is my first fanfiction on the site, so I'm a bit nervous on how it'll do… Regardless of that, however, I do hope someone reads it, to get, at the very least, an opinion on how I write.**_

_**With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy it! Oh, and of course, I don't own "Phineas and Ferb" or "Gravity Falls". The only thing that's mine is the OC, Nicole Bonabel.**_

**Chapter One: A Surprise Trip**

_**Somewhere in Gravity Falls…..**_

_Hello, Pine Tree._

Dipper Pines looked up, unfazed by Bill's appearance. The demon had been hanging around him since Gideon was put in jail. At first, his appearances were surprising, but now they were just slightly annoying.

_I have so many plans, Pine Tree, and you're in them._

Every day around this time, Bill would appear and kept on blabbering about some sort of plan. Whenever Dipper defeated a monster, Bill always said the same thing: That's nothing compared to what my plan is. It was like he was learning all of Dipper's ways of defeating a creature, always studying and watching, as if to create something far worse than anything that Dipper had faced. The very thought sent shivers down the boy's spine.

_If only Glasses and Llama would come, they're taking too long._

Glasses and Llama; Dipper had no idea who they were, but he hoped they'd never come. They were the only things that Bill was missing before he could put his plan into action. Bill once mentioned that Dipper, the symbols, and a few others were a part of some sort of team. If that was true, and considering Dipper had only recently told secret of the Number 3 Book to his Grunkle, his own family, then how were two strangers supposed to be trusted?

_Pine Tree, what's the date today?_

That was a thing he always asked; Dipper never got why. "July twentieth." He replied, then looking at the small demon, expecting it to look disappointed. Instead, Bill just hovered above him, staying perfectly silent. Then, without a word, Bill vanished into thin air.

This made Dipper terrified.

* * *

_**The next day….**_

"Do I really have to come with you guys, Phineas? I think it'd be better if I watched Perry or something." Nicole asked her friend/roommate. Nicole Bonabel had no intention of coming with the Flynn-Fletchers. The preteen had her raven black hair in her usual braid, a deep tan, dark green eyes, and wore her usual dark green t-shirt with torn off sleeves, khaki shorts, and black tennis shoes.

"Perry's going to be fine, Grandpa Jo's watching him," Phineas replied, in his usual upbeat tone. The optimistic preteen was excited for this trip; then again, he was excited about almost everything. The inventor had red, fiery hair, slightly pale skin, bright blue eyes, and wore an orange and white striped shirt, blue shorts, and blue sneakers. "Besides, you're temporarily part of the family, and we always go on trips together."

"Do you think I want to go voluntarily?" Candace, Phineas' sixteen year old sister, commented.

"My point is," Phineas continued, ignoring his sister, "we're all going." Nicole still looked unsure. "Come on, it'll be fun!" She still looked perfectly content staying there. "Please?" Phineas put on his most cute puppy doggish face. Nicole bit her lip for a moment. "Alright, I'll come!" Nicole said, forcing her glance off of him. "Just quit doing that!" Phineas' face went returned to normal as he teased, "I knew you couldn't say no to the face," to which Nicole lightly punched his arm in response.

"Kids, we got to get going or we'll miss the plane!" Mrs. Flynn pointed out, as Phineas, Nicole and Candace came to the car. Nicole was about to enter when she felt a hand tap her arm. She turned and saw Phineas' stepbrother, Ferb. The Brit had light green hair, pale skin, baby blue eyes, and wore a white shirt, purple shorts, and black tennis shoes. The boy said nothing as he handed her what looked like a black protractor and a pencil case filled with silver pencils. "Thanks," Nicole said, grabbing the two items from his hand, soon shoving them into her pocket. The two sat next to Phineas in the car as the drive to the airport began.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

I hate flying.

I guess I've always had my feet close to the ground. So the fact there was over sixteen hundred feet between me and solid Earth was possibly the scariest thing I knew at the moment. Phineas and Ferb, however, couldn't have been more different. The two were right next to me, sleeping easy. I couldn't blame them. Our plane was delayed for four hours and we had to land in Idaho for two hours because of a fuel leak. It was ten when we resumed the flight. It was about midnight, but I couldn't sleep. Not because of nerves, but because of a dream I had last night. Wait; check that, last several nights.

It always was the same: it started on a boy with a blue hat, a Pine tree in the center. His appearance was a little blurry to me. Soon after that, a little yellow triangle with one eye floated over him. The conversation was the same: the triangle, I think his name was Bill or Bob, would greet the boy as Pine Tree. He'd talk to him about some plan of his, complain that these people called Glasses and Llama were taking too long, blah, blah, blah, and he would ask Pine Tree what the date was. This was the only part that the boy spoke at. He'd say the date, Triangle would look disappointed, and would say "Beware, Pine Tree, for your out doing will happen soon!" (Or something like that, I haven't paid attention since the first time), and leave him.

That is, until last night.

After Pine Tree told Triangle the date, the Triangle (for once) had stayed quiet. Then, he just…vanished, no threats or anything. It was right about then I woke up and heard that we were going to stay at Gravity Falls because we had won a trip. And, after my dream, I knew it couldn't have been a coincidence. It might have just been paranoia, but I still was iffy about the whole thing.

I looked out the window into the bleak blackness of night, sighing. I guess only time could tell what Gravity Falls had in store for me. I drifted off into an uneasy sleep, wondering what was going to happen next.

* * *

"Nicole!" I heard a voice whisper. I opened my eyes and saw Phineas, shaking my arm. "Are you alright?" There was concern in his voice.

"Fine," I responded half-heartily, scolding myself. Granted, I only had about a full hour of sleep on the plane because I kept seeing Pyramid guy, but I wasn't going to tell anyone about that, especially Phineas.

It took a moment or two before I remembered where I was. We had arrived in Gravity Falls to find no hotel available. Mrs. Flynn then saw a flyer about a place called "The Mystery Shack" and decided to look for some help there. We were a part of the crowd outside the Shack, waiting to go inside. And frankly, I understand why they called it the Mystery Shack. It was a mystery how the place was still standing in it condition, much less with people inside it! It was a run down, creaky old shack with a sign that said 'Mystery Hack', the old wooden 'S' only staying on the roof by a thread.

Suddenly, the front door opened and an old man went through. He looked about as old as the Shack was, with brown eyes, gray hair and five o'clock shadow, pale and wrinkled skin, with a red fez with a yellow claw/crescent in the center, a black eye patch, black thick-rimmed glasses, a black suit buttoned up, a white dress shirt, a red bow tie, and old brown shoes. He smiled at our group with pearl white teeth, though they looked like dentures.

"Welcome, one and all, to the Mystery Shack."

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"…And that concludes our tour." Grunkle Stan concluded, showing in today's victims into the gift shop. It was a particularly large selection today, the tour big enough to fill up the gift shop, to which the poor suckers did. I started to focus back on my work, but I soon felt a familiar poke on my right shoulder. I looked up and saw my twin, Mabel, standing to my side. We were basically identical in looks: brown hair, brown eyes, lightly tanned skin. Our major differences were in height (she was taller than me by a millimeter, WHICH IS ONLY USED IN CANADA), gender, and clothing. She decided to wear a blue sweater to with a purple heart, a green skirt, blue shoes, and purple earrings today. Her silver braces were fully exposed with her usual wide smile.

"Oh gosh, Dipper, check out those two boys over there!" Mabel whispered as she pointed out her crushes for today (I think the term 'victims' is more appropriate. Or 'obsessions' could work.) One was tall, had pale skin, green hair, blue eyes, an oddly shaped head, and wore a white button down shirt with purple pants and black sneakers, while the other was shorter, had red hair, pale-ish skin, blue eyes, a triangle shaped head, and wore an orange and white striped tee, blue shorts, and blue sneakers.

"Mabel, you don't even know them. You are REALLY taking this whole boy crazy thing a little too seriously." I commented.

"Oh, come on," she started. She looked through the crowd for a moment or two before turning back to me. "Look, there's even one for you!" She then proceeded to point out someone else.

The girl Mabel pointed out was in the corner, looking at the book shelf. She had a dark tan, black hair, green eyes, a normal shaped head, and wore a green tank, tan khakis and black sneakers. I looked a little closer and noticed small bags under her eyes. I was about to return to work when Mabel pushed me from behind the display case, whispering, "Talk to her!"

Knowing Mabel wouldn't give up until I did, I decided to get this over with and walked up to the girl. I was about to reach her when I heard a familiar chuckle. I froze.

Bill.

I turned around, but the demon was nowhere to be found. I was about to grab Journal 3 when I heard someone take a sharp intake of air. I turned around and saw the girl Mabel pointed out, considerably paler then when I saw her at first. "Uh, are you okay?" I asked; she looked as if she had seen a ghost or something.

The girl quickly regained her composure. "Yeah, I'm fine, I was just… getting this book," she told me, grabbing a red book off the shelf. "How much?"

"Just take it," I told her, "Stan doesn't check inventory much anyway."

She nodded and, before I could ask any more questions, she walked quickly out the door, book still in hand.

I went back by Mabel. "So how'd it go?"

_**A/N: Alright, so hopefully that wasn't too bad. R/R, please!**_


	2. A Journal and A Chase

_**A/N: Hi, everyone! Okay, I forgot to mention this last time, but I'm going to try and update every Tuesday and Thursday.**_

_**I only own Nicole Bonabel! Everything else belongs to Disney!**_

**Chapter Two: A Journal and a Chase**

**Nicole's POV**

I knew coming here was a bad idea!

I was by a Great Oak in the forest just outside the Shack, the air around me suddenly heavier. I was alone in the woods, which was good, because I didn't want anyone to see me freaking out. It took me a minute or two to calm down. So I had seen Pine Tree. So I had heard a faint chuckle in the Shack. It was just a weird coincidence, nothing more! I put my hand on my knee down, and felt hard leather where grass should have been.

I looked down. I almost forgot about the book I got from the Shack. I really didn't pay any attention to it; I was just looking for an excuse to get out of there. But since I had it, I guess it wouldn't kill me to look inside. I turned the book over and opened to the first, yellowed page. It read:

_You're a fool for every getting these books! _(Something I couldn't make out; it was too smudged)_ But…I suppose I am a fool for ever writing them. _(Something else unreadable) _I dearly hope you are one of Us, Reader, or you are in mortal danger. I have this overwhelming feeling I am under constant watch. I pray it be only paranoia. If truly…_They_…are on to me… I dare not think what it could lead to._

I raised an eyebrow, flipping forward a few pages. I only saw bits and pieces of them, but it must have been a healing book, as it contained remedies and information on herbs. Though some of the ingredients were…odd, to say the least, with two full pages containing information of the uses of toad eyes and rabbit bones. The writer picked up again on one of the last pages.

_This is only the beginning of the secrets of Gravity Falls. _(I looked at the cover. Indeed, the beginning of "these books", as a six fingered hand had a '1' in its center.) _I hope this information will be as useful to you as it has been for me. You must protect these books with your life, for who knows what could happen if it ever goes into wrong hands. I pray this never happens. For you, dear Reader, good luck, and most importantly of all: Never let our enemies get these books. In Gravity Falls, there is no one you can ever trust!_

The writing stopped. I began to wonder who the author was so afraid of when a light brown rabbit hopped out of nowhere and grabbed the book off my lap.

"Hey!" I yelled. The rabbit didn't even pause for a moment. It continued hopping down, disappearing around a bend. I growled, quickly following after.

I was close on the rabbit's heels when I noticed it had paused, putting its head down in some grass. Silently stopping, I reached in my pockets and pulled out the black "protractor" and one of the silver "pencils". I put a bit of pressure on each object, and they began to expand. Once they had stopped, my black bow and a silver arrow appeared in my hands.

"There you are, you little…"

I stopped mid-way when the creature lifted its head up. On its head were two pearl white horns. It stared at me with gold eyes, almost amused by my shocked expression. "…J-jackalope? But… those don't exist!"

It looked at me as if to say, "_Well, if I wasn't real, you wouldn't be seeing me right now, would you?"_

I looked at it dumbly as I noticed the book by one of its white paws. I slowly approached it, as I didn't want to startle the ra- er, jackalope. Otherwise, the book might vanish altogether. I was about to reach the creature when it snapped to attention. The creature looked like was about to scurry away before a net descended upon it, trapping it inside. Frightened, it looked at me with pleading eyes. I had to admit, the little guy sure was cute…

"Let me get my book and I'll free you." I told it. Oh great, talking to a jackalope. I think I might be certifiably insane now.

It looked at me as if to say _"Deal."_ I used the arrow I had in my hand and cut it loose, and the creature hurried away. I picked up the old leather book it left behind.

That's when I heard someone coming.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"Hello?" I called out. I was in the woods just outside the Shack, as I thought the girl from earlier went in here.

Why was I looking for her? Apparently, Stan (for once) checked some of the books on the shelf and saw the one book the girl took missing. For some reason, he told me to find that book as quickly as possible. Apparently, he had accidentally put it there and needed it for something else important. He didn't explain what, but I'm still amazed that he reads something else besides _Gold Chains for Old Men _magazine.

Following some fresh footsteps, I entered into bit of a clearing, where I swore I heard her yell at someone. "Hello? If you're the girl from the Shack, Stan needs the book back! He accidentally put it there!"

No one replied. I was about to head back when I heard a twig break. I turned around once more to find a figure of a girl. To make sure I wasn't seeing things, I asked, "Hello?"

She bolted.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

"Hey, wait!" Pine Tree said, soon following after me. I felt the coarse book under my arm. If the author was correct, he had apparently written the book in order to keep it away from something-or some_one_. For all I knew, maybe it was that Stan guy; maybe the boy chasing after me was in on it, too. And according to the writer, he…she…_whatever_…wanted the book badly. What would it/they do if it/they caught me?

I didn't even want to think about it.

I continued to run for a while longer, hearing the boy pant behind me. I gave him credit, he was determined. I began to breathe heavily as well.

_Wait a minute, why am I still running?_ I realized. _I have twelve arrows and a bow at hand!_

I scanned the area by me. There were a ton of trees, and plenty of hiding places.

_Perfect._

* * *

**No POV**

Dipper panted heavily as he looked around another opening. Nicole had somehow vanished in the trees around him. It was weird how she was able to give him the slip; Dipper swore something bright was on her…

"Hello?" He called, instantly regretting it. _Why would she come out? Only a psychopath would do that!_

Dipper looked around the area. Nothing looked like anyone had been there recently. Once more, Dipper began to head back, before something new got his attention. This time, it was the familiar shadow of Nicole. Not just her shadow, though.

The other thing he quickly noticed was an arrow's silhouette, pulled back by a bow's outline, aimed dead center at the young adventurer.


	3. Meeting

**Chapter Three: Meeting**

**No POV**

Dipper forced every instinct in his body not to show visible panic. Sure, he was screaming like a little girl inside, but he didn't want her to know that. Dipper had faced humans as well as monsters in Gravity Falls. Gideon Gleeful, for example, was one of the worst humans Dipper faced off with. Gideon was backhanded, deceitful, and knew a bit of magic as well. But he'd faced Gideon and won. As far as he knew, she might be the same.

"I'm taking a wild guess in saying you're not giving up that book?" Dipper asked the girl. He wanted her to talk so he could figure a way out of this mess.

"Yep," Nicole replied. Journal Number 1 was under her right sneaker, but she had made sure the branch was big enough to hide the book's outline. The arrow only looked like it was aimed at Dipper. Unbeknownst to him, the arrow was aimed a little to the left, out of harm's way. If he'd figured out her trick, as long as she had the book hidden, Nicole figured she'd have the upper hand. She wasn't so crazy as to attempt murder, for Christ's sake!

"And its right to assume Grunkle Stan's out of luck if he wants the book back?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So now I should start heading back?"

"What do you think?"

Not to get into an argument with an armed (possibly crazy) person, Dipper started to head back. It all might have very easily ended there if Dipper hadn't heard Nicole say, "This stays between us, Pine Tree."

"What did you just call me?" Dipper questioned; a hint of fear was in his tone. Bill was the only person he'd ever heard use the name "Pine Tree". Were he and the girl in some sort of alliance?

"I said 'Pine Tree'. A pine tree's clearly printed on your hat. Little hard to miss, actually…" Nicole lied. She didn't know what else to call him; the triangle guy had never said his first name, and he didn't wear a name tag in the shop. It sorta just rolled off the tongue.

"Oh." Dipper responded, relieved. "I guess that makes sense. Sorry, I was just thinking of… something else."

"It's fine. Trust me, I know how that feels." Nicole reassured him, thinking of Bill.

"So… Do you always threaten everyone with a bow and arrow that appear out of nowhere, or am I the first?"

Nicole remembered the weapon in her hand. "Oh! Sorry about that," She placed the same amount of pressure of each object, and the two items retracted back to pencil and protractor. "Actually, you're the second person that's happened to, now that you mention it…"

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Dipper interrupted, eyes fixed on the former weaponry.

"Oh, that?" Nicole said, looking at the smaller objects. "It's just something I asked my friend Ferb to do. I really didn't feel comfortable coming here, so I asked him to find a way to have an archery kit at my side."

Dipper scoffed. "I don't blame you. If you'd spend an hour in my shoes…"

"I think I got the idea." Nicole told him, sitting on the branch. "Or are you just saying that because your grandfather's a con and you're getting paid for it?"

"First off, he's my great uncle, or 'Grunkle', actually." Dipper corrected. "Second off, I'm dead serious about something off in this town. Third off, I'm not getting paid, unless if you count 'Stan Bucks' as a form of currency." He paused. "How'd you know Stan's a con, anyway?"

"The 'Rock that looks like a Face Rock' was a bit of a giveaway." Nicole informed him. "Though your 'Grunkle' might need change the name; we spent a decent five minutes on what it was called."

"We haven't thought of a good replacement yet."

"Ah." A small portion of silence followed this.

"So, are you just gonna sit there all day or…?" Dipper ended the silence with the question.

"Oh, right." Nicole remembered, grabbing the journal as she dropped down below. "I'm Nicole Bonabel, by the way."

"Dipper Pines," Dipper introduced himself, forgetting the book he originally came to get. The two started to head back to the Shack as Dipper brought up, "'Second person'? Who else did you have to threaten with a bow and arrow?"

"Speak for yourself, 'Stan Bucks'. Stan seriously doesn't pay his own employees? Isn't that illegal or something?"

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

When I arrived back at the Shack with Nicole, the red head from before, I think Nicole said his name was Phineas, came up to us. "There you are!" He said to Nicole. "Come on, we have to get unpacked!"

"'Unpacked'?" Nicole asked him, with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, as it turns out, the Shack's part hotel!" Phineas smiled. _Oy vey, what Stan won't do for an extra buck…_ I face palmed. Phineas didn't notice as he continued, "The Shack has a few spare rooms. We're paying to stay for one week, only fifty bucks a night per person!"

"Ten bucks for additional food and drink costs, five for bathroom usage…" I eavesdropped on Stan counting a thick stack of green bills. Oh God, these poor people. _Please_ _don't let Stan put them in the basement or something... _I prayed. Stan once pulled the same thing on this poor honeymooning couple. For a full weekend, Stan treated them like prisoners in that Colombian prison he once was held in.

"Come on, our room's in the attic!" Phineas finished, pulling Nicole behind him to hurry her up.

_Oh, thank God it isn't- THE ATTIC?!_

_**A/N: Yeah, this might have been a little short. I just wanted to get the Pines and Flynn-Fletchers together. By the way, that "second person" that Nicole threatened? Yes, that is an important part to her backstory and character, which I'll get into it later.**_


	4. Gnomes

_**A/N: Hi! Alright, so I won't be able to publish anything on Thursday because I'm going out of town to a place with no Internet access for July 4**__**th**__**. But, despite this, I hope you guys have a good July 4**__**th**__** holiday!**_

**Chapter Four: Gnomes**

**Dipper's POV**

Alright, I'll admit the last two nights with the Flynn-Fletchers weren't _so_ bad. Mr. and Mrs. Flynn got the old wax figurine storage room to sleep in, Stan stealing my mattress for the two of them to sleep on. Ferb gave me his blanket to put on my wood bed frame. It wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but I managed. The Flynn-Fletcher's daughter, Candace, got Soos' break room. Soos, the handyman of the Shack, just went with the flow (as expected) and was more than happy to temporarily return to his old break room (it was really an electrical panel; yes, Stan is _that _cheap). To finish it off, Ferb, Phineas and Nicole roomed with me and Mabel in the attic.

Mabel was _super_ excited to find out that A) another girl was living in the Shack, and B) her two crushes were now sleeping in the same room as she was. Mabel mostly wanted to talk to Nicole about boys, some "age inappropriate werewolf romance novels", and other various girly things, to which Nicole was less than enthusiastic about. When not "bonding" with Nicole, Mabel mostly flirted with Phineas (and once in a while Ferb), who was rather oblivious to her feelings. According to Nicole, another girl has been trying for a few years to get Phineas' attention with no luck. "Mabel doesn't have a prayer," she sighed.

Phineas and Ferb themselves are pretty cool. Phineas is the more talkative of the two, but Ferb's one sentence per day is much needed, considering I live with Mabel and temporarily with Phineas. Phineas mostly hangs around Mabel, Waddles (Mabel's pig), and Soos, the last of which is because he's an inventor. And I don't take this term lightly. The guy's a technological _genius_, as well as Ferb. I think they could honestly build twenty buildings that could reach the moon in two days! Phineas claims they're on break from all that, but considering the sketch book he bought from the Shack's gift shop is almost filled, that won't last long. However, I keep a bit of an eye on Ferb. He's been poking around our room, and I'm afraid he's gonna find the Number 3 book I hid in an old shoe box.

Despite most of her time being filled with Mabel, Nicole and I sometimes snag a moment or two alone. While she isn't as smart as the boys, she's a very skilled markswoman. She always hits the target on the totem pole when we went to Wendy's secret hiding place, something I couldn't accomplish until after two weeks of trying! For the most part, she's an open book. Phineas warned that family was a touchy subject, so I never asked, and she's told numerous stories (presumably true) about the boys.

Yet why do I still have the feeling she's hiding something?

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

"What's another ten letter word for 'possessive'?" I heard Dipper ask. We were alone in the room the six (if you included Waddles) of us shared. I was flipping through the pages of Journal Number 1 (behind an issue of a magazine called _Gold Chains for Old Men)_ and Dipper was doing some old crossword.

"Try M-A-B-E-L-P-I-N-E-S," I replied. He slightly chuckled.

"Oh, come on, Mabel isn't _that_ bad." Dipper told me. "She's a bit eccentric sometimes, sure, but she's a nice girl if you'd get to know her."

"Are you kidding me? I'm lucky if I get a single word out during a conversation!"

Before Dipper could reply, we felt a light rumble coming from outside. The two of us shared a glance as we headed to look out the window.

"Is… Is that a giant gnome?" I asked, astonished by the sight before me.

Unfortunately, I wasn't seeing things. A giant freaking gnome, of all things, was right outside the Shack. Well, technically it was a ton of little gnomes in the shape of a giant gnome. Dipper said, "God, again?" and opened up the window.

"JEFF, WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Dipper screamed.

I think one of them replied, but we couldn't hear anything. "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Dipper screamed again.

"I SAID, WELL, WELL, IF IT ISN'T DIPPER PINES, OUR AGE OLD ENEMY!" One of the many gnomes, Jeff, yelled. "WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?"

"I LIVE HERE! YOU KNOW THAT!" Dipper stated, after a brief face palm.

A slight pause followed. "PFFT, YEAH, I KNOW! IT WAS MEANT FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT! YOU… YOU TOTALLY RUINED IT!" Jeff replied.

_Moron,_ I thought as Dipper continued, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? MABEL ISN'T EVEN HOME!"

"WE KNOW! WE CAME HERE FOR- ACK, ACK, HCK, HCKL, PTT, PTT! GRR, DARN FLIES! ALWAYS HAVE TO GO IN YOUR MOUTH AT THE WRONG TIME! NOW- WAIT, WHERE WAS I?"

"YOU CAME HERE FOR…"

"OH, RIGHT! WE COME HERE…FOR _YOUR_ QUEEN!"

"Dipper, what are they talking about?" I asked the big headed investigator.

"I… I don't know, actually." He replied, as puzzled as I was. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? THAT GIRL YOU'VE BEEN HANG AROUND WITH FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS! SHE'S OBVIOUSLY YOUR QUEEN! AND WE WANT TO KIDNAP HER TO MAKE HER OUR QUEEN! IT'S THE ULTIMATE REVENGE!"

"NO, THAT'S PRETTY STUPID! WENDY WENT BACK HOME HOURS AGO! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE!"

"Wendy? The cash register girl Candace hangs around? Isn't she, like, three years older than you?" I asked him.

"Doesn't your friend Ferb like a girl whose four years older than him?"

"Hm. Touché."

"THE GINGER GIRL? NO, WE'RE NOT EVEN INTERESTED IN HER!"

"THEN WHO DO YOU WANT? THERE'S NO ONE ELSE I LIKE!"

"Alright, am I the _only_ one surprised about the existence of gnomes?" I asked, poking my head outside the window.

"THERE SHE IS!" Jeff shouted. The large "hand" of the giant gnome quickly headed toward the window, causing Dipper and me to leap to the side before the hand crashed. It broke the glass of the window, and I heard quite a couple of gnomes cry out in pain. Jeff shouted to walk it off, as some of the gnomes disbanded and scoped out the place. Dipper was trapped under a fallen book shelf, and I had my leg snagged under an old fortune machine. The assembly of about twelve gnomes only took two minutes before they found me. I tried to get my foot out, but the machine was too heavy. They yanked my foot out, grabbing me by my wrist and ankles, and pulled me to the bigger gnome. Once they had me in their "hand", the giant gnome began to stomp away. I shouted for Dipper, but I saw he only managed to scramble to the window before he disappeared from sight.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"Don't worry, Nicole, I'm coming!" I shouted through the window, not sure if she had heard me. I practically jumped down the stairs and came into the living room to find Stan and Ferb watching "Ducktective". "Are Phineas and Mabel still out?"

"Yeah, why do you care?" Stan replied, eating a bag of popcorn.

"What about Candace?"

"She went out with Wendy and a few of her friends five minutes ago. Now shut up, Ducktective's gathering the evidence in order to find out who shot K.S. or something. I've been switching between this and 'Austin' for the last ten minutes."

I groaned, and then pulled Ferb off to the side. I told him what happened, frantic beyond all reason. "You've got to help me!" I finished. Ferb stayed quiet for a moment.

"Yeah, okay." He told me.

Although I slightly raised my eyebrow at his calmness, Ferb and I started to head out to face the gnomes. I remembered to grab Journal 3, hiding it in my vest, while Ferb somehow had an expandable Bo staff in his pocket. _What's with these people and travel sized weaponry? _I thought, as Ferb and I hopped into the Shack's golf cart, speeding away into the woods.


	5. A Rescue (Sorta)

**Chapter Five: A ****Rescue**** (Sorta)**

**Nicole's**** POV**

Gnomes; of all the things I could have been captured by, it's gnomes.

I slightly sighed. This is probably one of my most embarrassing moments in my life.

The gigantic gnome (that somehow no one noticed) had me encased in its left hand. Jeff cleared his throat as he screamed, "SO… DO YOU LIKE THE VIEW?" I decided in my best interests not to reply. "UH… WE HAVE SOME NICE WEATHER OUT HERE, HUH?" More silence. "OKAY, SO YOU'RE NOT THE MOST TALKATIVE OF PEOPLE, I RESPECT THAT!"

I did react to this one; an eye roll. After this, Jeff decided to stay quiet. It was about then I noticed how the gnomes were interlocked. The collection was like those barrel monkeys' you'd play with if you were really bored; they all seemed to either grab their hands or legs. Maybe…

It was a long shot that it'd work, but I kicked one of the gnomes in the face.

"MY NOSE!" he said, kicking someone in the chin.

"MY CHIN!" he shouted, kicking another in his back.

"MY SPINE!" he cried, kicking someone else near their stomach.

"MY SPLEEN!" he hollered, kicking yet another, you get the idea. The gnomes slightly shifted. It gave me just enough wiggle room to sink down farther into the hand. I was deep inside the interconnecting gnomes until I found the bottom; my exit. I socked one of them in the jaw, causing him to unlock his hand, slip, and made the other gnomes try to save him from falling from a tall height. And, looking from out the space, I realized it was _tall. _We were probably full _stories_ higher than the trees. All that space between me and the ground…

I shook my head. If I didn't get out now, who knows what'll happen. I didn't have much time, either; Jeff saw what I was planning and I heard him order some of the others to get me. I whipped my head around to see the gnomes, maybe twenty or thirty of them, closing in. I looked down at the tree tops. The hole was just big enough for me to escape. Without thinking, I jumped down below.

"NO!" Jeff shouted, commanding the other gnome hand to grab me. Only a few of the gnomes got my shoe, but it easily slipped off, allowing me to continue free falling down. Before the other hand could get a hold of me, I entered head first in the trees.

When I got a little into the woods, I quickly got a hold of a thick tree branch. I got a brush burn for it, but at least now I was safe.

Well, _mostly_ safe.

"QUICKLY, WE HAVE TO FIND HER!" Jeff shouted. I saw the gigantic gnome disbanding.

_Uh oh, _I thought, soon beginning to run through the trees for a hiding place.

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

**Dipper's POV**

Ferb and I pulled up when the giant gnome stopped in its tracks. _That's weird, _I thought, _it seems closer than last time._ Before I could really think about it, however, Ferb tapped my arm, gesturing to a clearing. He was about to go in, I following, when someone screamed, "QUICKLY, WE HAVE TO FIND HER!" It was Jeff. Did Nicole get out?

A pine cone hit the back of my head at that moment. I spun around to see Nicole was only a few branches above Ferb and me, mostly hidden under the cover of the tree tops.

"Nicole! Are you-?" I began to ask, only for her to shoot me a shut up gesture. She pointed toward the direction of the gnomes, and I saw they had begun to disassemble. Realizing what was going on, I turned to Ferb. He nodded as the two of us climbed the tree in next to Nicole.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she assured me, whispering. "Our bigger problem here is with the gnomes."

"Yeah, they really don't understand when to quit; trust me, I should know." I whispered back. It was then I remembered the short section about Gnomes in my book. I got it out of my vest; maybe I forgot something about them…

A few seconds passed and Ferb slightly chuckled. "Do you two belong to a book club or something?" He remarked.

"Ferb, what are you-?" I began to ask, looking up from the Journal. When I looked over to Nicole, however, and I froze mid-sentence. She was holding a brown-red book. Not just any book, however, it was a journal.

Journal Number 1, to be exact.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

"How'd you get that?" I heard Dipper ask, an unidentifiable tone in voice. I looked at him; his eyes were fully on the journal I was holding.

I scolded myself. Why would there be anything in a healing book about Gnomes?! Even so, why didn't I tell him earlier? He seems alright; maybe he would've understood. How was I going to explain _this _to him? That I found it in the woods?! That's ridiculous!

"I…uh…" I was thinking how to explain this to him, when my own glance fell on the book he was holding. It was near to identical to mine, except for the number 3 in the center. "Well, how'd you get that?"

"I… I asked you first!" He replied, sharpness in his in words.

We might have gotten into an argument then and there if a voice didn't proclaim "SHMEBULOCK!" as loud as it could. Dipper, Ferb, and I looked down and saw one of the gnomes, an old one, pointing up at us in the tree. Jeff, popping out of a bush, looked in our direction. "Good job, Shmebulock." Jeff thanked. Shmebulock once more said "Shmebulock" with a salute. "Gnomes, ADVANCE!" He commanded. Ferb, Dipper, and I gasped practically in unison as we began to run from the thousands of gnomes heading our way.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

I'll admit that the Gnomes have gotten pretty fast.

I think they might have been taking daily runs or something, because they were almost on Nicole, Ferb, and yours truly in a matter of moments. Maybe they met up with the Manotaurs…

Not too long passed before gnomes began to fly through air, aimed at us. Ferb saw the first couple coming toward him and deflected them with his extended Bo staff. One of the gnomes snagged itself on my arm, but I simply punched him away. One or two got in Nicole hair, but she just jumped when there was a low hanging branch, knocking them out, causing them to fall. She also got her hands on quite a few acorns and launched them in a few gnomes' pants. A squirrel invaded each of the targeted.

"AH! THERE'S A SQUIRREL IN MY PANTS!" One of them shouted, the others also panicking.

I shook one off my leg as Nicole climbed up higher on the tree we were on. Ferb and I followed, but so did the gnomes. She looked back and saw they were still following, than jumped down a few branches to get closer to the ground. The same happened with this route as well. "WHAT ARE YOU (pant) EXACTLY EXPECTING TO HA- (pant) HAPPEN?" I asked, the jumping, running, and gnomes starting to tire me out.

"I DON'T (pant) KNOW, CONFUSE THEM?" She replied; she noticeable starting to wear out as well.

With the next step she took, Nicole fell, screaming.


	6. Jackalopes

**_A/N: Warning: the following chapter will contain violence._**

**Chapter Six: Jackalopes**

**No POV**

Nicole groaned as she got up. The branch she stepped on had rotted to a core, and with the slightest pressure it broke through. Nicole tried to stand, but a sharp pain in her ankle warned that wasn't the best idea.

She bit her lip to prevent a scream. She looked up and saw Dipper, Ferb, and the gnomes getting closer. _Can't stop here… Gotta keep running… _she thought as she started to limp away, though every other step gave a sharp jolt of pain. She might have not gone five feet before a pair of pearl white antlers displayed themselves.

The jackalope from the first day the Flynn-Fletchers had arrived popped its head above the grass. The creature's glance fell upon the girl, who hadn't noticed the rabbit-like creature yet. The jackalope soon saw that she was running from gnomes and, at least from the creature's perspective, two males.

It took only a few seconds before the jackalope darted out from the bushes, the spot of light brown scurrying under Nicole's feet, causing her to trip and had to catch herself on her bad ankle. Once more biting back a scream, she turned her head angrily to the side to spot the jackalope, running. Nicole's instinct was to follow the rabbit-like creature, _Alice in Wonderland_ style, which she listened to. Ferb and Dipper, though baffled at her new route, followed her anyway, as did the tidal wave of gnomes.

The jackalope lead her deep in the woods, to a part even Dipper didn't recognize. It was a set of two hills, surrounded by towering trees, the fading sunlight hitting it in such a way that it resembled a magical fairytale place. All around there were tons of jackalopes, all as fuzzy and adorable as the one Nicole followed. One was even chasing a butterfly up one of the hills! The jackalope, (who was unfazed of the wonderland that felt like it was covered in rainbows, unicorn barf, and Smile Dip) hopped over to an older, grey jackalope, most likely the leader. Through nose scrunches and blinking, the two seemed to talk briefly. Then, the older one nodded, blinking a command to a blonde jackalope behind him. The blonde nodded and hopped to a water pond, covered in water lilies and a baby blue. It drank a little of the water.

When it opened its mouth again, he cried an earsplitting yell.

All the jackalopes, Nicole, Ferb, Dipper, even the gnomes, snapped to attention. More of the clearly male jackalopes replied with the same earsplitting call, causing Nicole, Dipper, Ferb, and all the gnomes to cover their almost bleeding ear drums. The clearly female jackalopes gathered the smaller ones and herded them to inside the hills. However, the males, who now looked like beady eye demons, with jagged teeth nonetheless, began to run toward Dipper, Ferb, and the gnomes.

Dipper and Ferb split from the gnomes as the jackalopes also split off. One group, the larger one, charged toward the gnomes, while the small one headed toward Dipper and Ferb. The sky suddenly turned red and black as the jackalopes and Gnomes clashed. The jackalopes began to practically tear the gnomes from limb to limb. Teeth were littered on the ground, blood flew all around, and more than one gnome began barfing rainbows. The jackalopes following Dipper and Ferb were getting much less bloodshed, but that was only because Dipper and Ferb were still on their feet and running. Though that didn't mean they were unscathed; Ferb and Dipper still got quite a couple of bruises, claw marks, and both were starting to slow down. Nicole saw what was happening to the others and got the gold-eyed jackalope's attention.

"Don't attack the humans!" She told it. "They're my friends! We're cool!"

The gold-eyed jackalope, realizing the error, went by the blonde bunny and crinkled her nose a bit. The blonde bunny briefly shrieked something, and the jackalopes by Dipper and Ferb stopped. As the two boys began to regain breath, hunched over and panting, the small herd went by the gnomes. Only one remained behind briefly, using its long, (once precious) caramel ears to gesture that he'd be watching. Dipper and Ferb, still heavily panting, sore, and limping, went by Nicole and Gold-Eyes back to the right hill.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

If someone told me today that I was going to be chased by fuzzy little demons, I would've asked if they had too much Smile Dip recently (seriously, there was a reason it was banned in America). But, sure enough, I was.

Of all the things I'd never think I'd see or experience, this is up there between meeting the ghost of Elvis singing "Disco Girl" with Michael Jackson in the background, and becoming a fan of Sev'ral Times (I mean, there's girly pop, and then there's _too _girly pop).

Some of the bruises were cleaned up by the female jackalopes, while the cuts were bathed in what looked like jackalope milk. Whatever it was, it worked fast. Most of my cuts and a few bruises were gone in seconds. Ferb, on my left, was given similar treatment, and Nicole, on my right, was getting a splint for her ankle. It wouldn't amount for much in the long run, but at least she wouldn't have that bad a limp. She was also flipping through a few pages in Journal 1.

"What's it about?" I asked, causing Nicole to look up.

"Well, from what I can gather, it's the weirdest medical handbook in the history of planet Earth." She replied, to which I slightly chuckled at. An awkward silence followed. "What… What about yours?"

I briefly forgot what she was talking about before I saw Journal 3 in the front of my feet. "Oh, it's about the monsters of this town, mostly." I replied. More silence followed.

"You're not going to turn me in to 'Them', right?" She asked suddenly.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-," she began, then stopping. "Never mind; I was thinking of something else."

Though slightly curious at what she meant, I stayed quiet and decided to milk a conversation out of Ferb instead.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

Yes, I still was vaguely suspicious of Dipper and 'Them' in an alliance. Not too much of Dipper, though; I was more concerned with Stan. It was in his shop I _so_ happened to find the book, and he was still looking for it. Call me paranoid, but I just didn't want to get killed.

When the last cut on Ferb healed, we headed out, as the Great Gnome and Jackalope battle had ended. I didn't know how bad it was, but there was a ton of blood…that the jackalopes were drinking. Oh great, as if I needed _more_ reason not to sleep tonight…

Gold-Eyes lead us back to where Dipper and Ferb had parked the Mystery Shack cart. It felt like hours, so I was surprised when it was still sunset, like when the boys left. With a blink, Gold-Eyes left, and Dipper started to drive back. There was a bit of silence.

"Never mention this again?" Ferb asked us.

"Agreed," We replied in unison.

_**A/N: Yeah, this was rather short. But don't worry, the plot will continue moving after this Gnome/Jackalope subplot next chapter.**_


	7. A Threat Revives

**Chapter Seven: A Threat Revives**

**Dipper's POV**

The day following the never-shall-be-mentioned-again event between Jackalopes and Gnomes, I was back to working in the Mystery Shack's Gift shop. Phineas and Mabel were somewhere with Waddles, Stan was scamming tourists, Soos was a part of the exhibit ("The Question Baby"), Nicole and Ferb were touring the town (trying to forget yesterday, most likely), and Candace and Wendy were talking. I was dusting off one of the displays when I saw, strangely enough, a copper colored chain with a darker llama charm. I looked around the shop; none of the items were the same as the necklace. _It's Mabel's, probably, _I thought. I was about to stuff it in my pocket when I remembered Mabel wasn't scrambling to find it this morning. If it was hers, she would be searching for it right at this moment, but she wasn't. If it wasn't hers, whose was it?

I was about to ask Wendy and Candace about it when someone walked through the door. I groaned; it was Robbie V., my least favorite human still in Gravity Falls. He was a pale, Goth teen, with a few pimples and a stubble of hair on his chin, a long nose, black hair that goes over an eye, dark brown eyes, silver piercings in his ear, and wore a black hoodie with the image of a bleeding red heart with stitches, black fingerless gloves, _way_ too skinny jeans, and black sneakers. Wendy groaned as well; the two broke up not too long ago, and it was a really bad one, too.

"S'up Wendy," he greeted, playing it smooth (though reeking of desperation), and then looked at Candace. "Whaddup… Giraffe Girl?"

Candace looked offended as Wendy snarled, "Her name's Candace. What do you want, Robbie?"

"_This _is Robbie?" Candace begrudgingly asked, to which Robbie cockily smiled, adding, "So I'm famous around here, huh?"

"Oh yeah," Candace remarked, "as the heartless boyfriend that doesn't have enough spine to even try to pass Wendy's dad in the street anymore."

"Hey, that dude's huge!" Robbie defended, but before losing his temper, cooled down. "Anyway, Wendy, I had an extra ticket to that new movie out and I was wondering if you would join me."

"No. Now get out of here before I have to carry you out!" Wendy threaten. "Oh, come on!" Robbie cried in desperation. "Wendy, I've given you flowers, invited you to concerts and road trips, even replicated famous 'Take Me Back!' movie scenes! Why can't we go back to dating?"

"Because you're a cold, unfeeling jerk, and I wish I never met you. Now get out!" Wendy said, beginning to raise her voice. Okay, I would be lying if I said I didn't start wildly grinning at the dusty knick-knacks.

"Come on, babe! I could have any other girl in this town-!" Wendy's eyes were now filled with anger.

"WHAT?!" She shouted. Robbie tried to stutter out an apology, but Wendy continued on. "YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I GRAB YOUR STUPID SKINNY JEANS AND POUR A GALLON OF HOT WATER ON THEM!"

Robbie, his cheeks a crimson, got the message and ran out there, slightly crying.

Wendy broke down in tears when he left, Candace comforting her. I stuffed the necklace in my short's pocket. It was for the greater good, I decided, and Candace's "glare-of-death" was extra reassurance I was doing the right thing.

* * *

"Wait, keep this one on!" Mabel said. "I love this show!"

"Yeah, Ferb, 'Why You Ackin' so Cray-Cray?' is awesome!" Phineas added.

"I guess it's better than 'The Duchess Approves'," Ferb shrugged. For some reason, Grunkle Stan ran in and said, "'The Duchess Approves' starring Sturly Stembleburgiss and Grampton St. Rumpterfrabble?!"

"…Yeah?" Ferb said. All of us were staring at him, even Waddles.

Grunkle Stan's eyes darted around for a moment. "You know, not that I care or anything." He looked at us a moment, with a few beads of sweat on his forehead. "Don't look at me like that!" He pointed an accusing finger at us as he ran to the kitchen. Mabel, Phineas, and Ferb's attention turned back to the television as I looked around the room.

"Hey, where's Nicole?" I asked.

"I think she's on the roof," Mabel answered, then asking, "Why?"

I looked at Ferb; we hadn't told Phineas or Mabel about yesterday, not that we planned to.

"So, what's this show about, anyway?" Ferb asked Mabel. I heard Phineas comment that Ferb was "awfully chatty today" with Mabel explaining the show they were watching. I snuck up to the roof using Wendy's secret entrance and found Nicole sitting on the edge of the hideaway. I cleared my throat, making her turn around.

"Hey," she greeted.

"You don't seem very surprised to see me." I remarked.

"Figured you or Ferb would find me sooner or later." I sat next to her as she opened the ice chest, asking, "Want a drink?"

"Yeah, thanks." I accepted a Pitt from her. Nicole took a sip of her drink. There was a silence before she looked down.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing to my pocket. I looked down and noticed the llama necklace I found earlier was poking out. I pulled it out, replying, "Oh, just something I spotted earlier. I really don't know what to do with it."

"Could I have it?" Nicole asked. I gave her a confused look, as she never seemed interested in jewelry, so she took off rope holding a vial of jackalope milk she had…"acquired" a day earlier. "The rope's really frayed; I need something stronger so the vial won't fall and break."

"Sure; I think it should fit." I said, giving it to her. Nicole removed the flask from the worn out rope and slipped it on the metal chain. She had a little trouble fixing the clasp around her neck, so I clicked it on for her. A moment of silence followed; apparently I wasn't the only person in this town who sucked at small talk.

"Dipper," Nicole said, "I'm sorry."

"…For what?" I asked her.

"I never apologized for…you know…threatening you with an arrow the first time we met." She explained, slightly smiling at the thought. I chuckled at the memory as well; to think, that happened only five days ago.

"It's fine." I forgave. It then reminded me about something. "Who _was _the other person you threaten, anyhow?"

She laughed. "Trust me, it's a long story, and I'm starting to get cold. Can we go inside first?" She asked, standing up before offering me her hand. I smiled, accepting.

* * *

**No POV**

After the two preteens entered into the building, Mabel (hiding at the foot of the ladder) loudly inquired, "HOW'S IT GOING?" This frightened Dipper and caused Nicole to try (and fail) biting back a giggle. Mabel also chuckled, adding, "Wow, Dipper, you look as red as you did when you had to perform the Lamby-Lamby Dance in front of Wendy!"

"The 'Lamby-Lamby Dance'? What's that?" Nicole asked. Despite Dipper's hand gestures to Mabel to drop the subject, she proceeded on, "It's an embarrassing dance my brother does occasionally. I got it on video! You wanna see!?"

Nicole wiped a fake tear from her eye. "This is the first time I think we've connected. Let's watch it!" Nicole proclaimed.

"NO!" Dipper shouted, epic-dramatic movie style, as the video played. Nicole began laughing hysterically, shouting, "PHINEAS, FERB! YOU'VE _GOT _TO SEE THIS!"

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

In the Gravity Falls Maximum State Prison, a white-haired boy by the name of Gideon Gleeful paced in his cell. While he interacted with prisoners on his hit TV show, was deemed too unstable, mentally, at least, to have a cell mate, so he had a lot of time to think. And all the time, one name flashed in his mind:

Pines_._

To say he the loathed the Pines family was a _gross_ understatement. Stanford was his business rival and the reason of both his jail time and now disgraced name in Gravity Falls. Stan was second on his to-kill list, closely following Dipper Pines, his mortal enemy. God, just _thinking_ that infernal boy's name made Gideon want to punch something with all his might! Dipper had bested him too many times (technically, it was only a few times, but to Gideon that was one time too many), and worst of all, Dipper still had Journal Number 3 in his possession.

That's right, Gideon knew about the Journals. In fact, before he was arrested, he owned one: Journal 2. That was taken away by Stanford (as if he needed more reasons to hate him), and God knows where Number 1 was. It was Journal 2 that gave him his magic powers, and made him famous. And he could have used them to get his true love, the light of his life, the apple of his eye, his queen, Mabel Pines!

Just as Gideon was plotting his one hundredth plot of revenge against the Pines, time seemed to slow down. Gideon could feel it; the guard outside his cell chewed his gum slower, a fight was pausing, and everything was starting to turn a grey. Gideon froze. It wasn't…

Speak of the Devil; a familiar yellow triangle suddenly appeared in Gideon's cell.

"Bill!" The boy gasped, not believing his eyes.

"No, the Queen of England," the demon sarcastically remarked. "But thank you for stating the obvious, Captain."

Gideon raised his eyebrow briefly before remembering what that monster got him into. Bill failed him, which caused him to eventually get here. "What do you want, Spirit?" Gideon spat, though in the back of his mind he slapped himself mentally.

"Do you remember when we first met, Gideon?" Cipher questioned, hands behind his back, looking outside the barred window.

"Yes." The 'psychic' replied, harsher then he wanted; Bill was a powerful demon, after all. "Why-?"

"Do you remember what I said? About you owing me a favor after our arrangement?" Bill interrupted.

Gideon, annoyed, answered, "Yes, but-!"

"Well, today that favor shall be cashed in!" Bill announced, happily. That just made Gideon madder than he already was.

"IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, I'M IN PRISON!" Gideon yelled at the pyramid. "ALL BECAUSE OF AN AGREEMENT YOU DIDN'T FULFILL! AND THAT'S GOING TO BE JUST A 'LIL OL' PROBLEM NOW, WON'T IT?!" After realizing what he'd done, Gideon looked at Bill fearfully, knowing the demon's insane behavior.

Instead, the demon just snapped, "I know that! But let's not forget- I'm in my domain now." At first, Gideon didn't understand what that meant, but after a moment…

"You… You've invaded my mind," The boy realized, to which Bill rolled his eye in response.

"Congratulations, you've just got promoted to Major, Captain Obvious!" The demon sneered. "If you please, I have to go somewhere else after this, so let's get a move on." Bill extended his hand, Gideon copying forcefully.

Without warning, the glass shattered. The once paralyzed guard now reacted as slowly as the glass that was heading toward him. A few people gradually fell back from the force of the explosion and others took forever to look up. Unhurried bullets tried to reach the two of them, but they just casted a simple shield spell before it even came close. A few inmates looked like they were cheering the child on, but their cheers were muted in this world. Soon, without even trying, the two villains got back Gideon's regular baby blue suit, black shirt, white tie, and brown shoes that lost their sheen after sitting in a locker. Gideon quickly dressed and noticed when he put his hand in his pocket, there was a bus ticket.

The two walked out the building, without a problem. Bill floated near Gideon to the almost deserted bus station, where a nearly empty bus had pulled up. The duo got on, Gideon sitting at a window seat.

"See you soon, Six Pointed Star." Bill cryptically stated, vanishing soon after. Gideon opened his eyes; everything was back to normal, though the disgraced star now had more questions than answers.

He frowned. If Bill was to return to him, Gideon would make him rue the day he failed him.


	8. An Unnerving Dream

_**A/N: And so our story continues…only to come back to a grinding halt. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, most of this is just set up for something much later. It also explains Nicole's backstory, but, really, the only thing essential to the plot NOW the last thing Bill says, and the non-italicized part.**_

**Chapter Eight: An Unnerving Dream**

**Nicole's POV**

_I awoke in a white room, alone. Well, there were mirrors, but that's about it. I stood up; Man, it was dizzying to even _move_ in here. I had to grasp the side of my head just to make sure my brain didn't fall out. Weirdly enough, after I blinked, I was in a circle of the mirrors; six, if I remember correctly. Suddenly, after another blink of my eyes, a familiar yellow triangle appeared in one of them._

"_It's…you!" I proclaimed, mentally face palming. Really, that was the best I could think up?_

"_Wow, you'd think someone'll learn your name after almost two weeks of dreams…" The triangle-man said._

"_Hey, Dipper said your name, like, one time, sue me!" I defended._

"_Yet you learned his name? Tsk, tsk." He shook his head in a mock disapproving manner._

"_I've lived with the guy for five days now! I'd learn it eventually!" I explained._

"_Man, you have an awful habit of living with people outside your family, don't you?" The Triangle spun around in the mirrors. "The Flynn-Fletchers, the Pines, who's next, the Kennedys?"_

"_Hey!" I began, though stopping. "How-how'd you know I lived with Phineas and Ferb? I… I haven't even told you my _name_ yet!"_

"_On the contrary, Nicole Katherine Bonabel," He said my name in an almost mocking tone. "I know everything about you."_

_At first, my hands got a little clammy, but I realized that this guy probably was just all talk; how was he supposed to know everything if he always asked the date? "Really?" I crossed my arms. "Prove it, then."_

"_Well, your mother died when you were born on October 28__th__, twelve years ago…" He began; I scoffed. Medical records, no doubt._

"…_You come from a rough home life, where your father was a drunk. After your brother was arrested, you ran away in hopes of a better life…" Police and Child Services records…but how was he able to get them?_

"…_You met Phineas and Ferb in the forest while on running away to Danville's train station…" Only the Flynn-Fletchers and my brother, Patrick, knew that! When the boys and I arrived in Danville, I made them promise to never tell anyone of my…current situation. People still think I'm a runaway, nowhere to be found. Patrick knows this, too, and he'd never rat me out like that. Has this guy been following me or something?_

"…_You hoped when you get to your original destination, Boston, you'd stow away on a ship to France so you could live with your Aunt…" I've only told that to Patrick and Phineas! They wouldn't blab that!_

…_Would they?_

"…_You're secretly a huge fan of classical music…" Okay, I have never told ANYONE that._

_He might have told my whole life story if I hadn't cut him off. "Alright, alright, I get it! You win!"_

_The demon crossed his arms. "Ha! Please, if I won, you'd be dead right now." He replied; I prayed to God that I didn't just pale. "No, that will come at a later time. For now, however, I need you alive."_

"_For what, to see how long before you can drive me insane?" I joked, though half-heartily._

"_Actually, that's exactly why!" The demon (he still hadn't told me his name…) said. When he noticed that I might have turned so pale I was Ferb's skin tone, he added, "But again, that'll come later."_

"_Then… Why am I here?" I asked. It wasn't until I hit a mirror that I noticed that I knew I was backing away from the ghost…demon…whatever it was._

"_Again, I'm going to need you alive at the present moment." He made the mirrors vanish as he spoke, though in his physical form he made himself much larger. "You see, I'm about to cause a disturbance. A fracas, if you're one of those people. You are one of my many participants. I know you are rather… How do I say? …'ill-experienced', in this field. And I know a lot of things. Since I need you alive for later, I'll give you a piece of advice: if you attempt to…'eliminate' yourself from my plan, even consider it for a moment…well, you _really_ don't want to know."_

_I gave him a confused look, beginning to ask, "Why… What…?"_

"_Oh, gosh darn it; I have some arrangements to do!" He exclaimed, even throwing in a disappointed arm swing. "See you soon, Bonabel!"_

"_What… Who are you?!" I asked._

_The demon stopped for a moment. He slightly laughed. "You'll learn soon enough…"_

_In the resulting flash of light, he called me an odd name:_

"…_Llama."_

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"Nicole," Phineas said, tapping the girl on her arm with a fork. "Nicole…Nicooole…Nicole!"

At the last one, Nicole looked up. She had been silent all morning, just picking at her pancakes. Phineas, Mabel, and I had finished a syrup race (Mabel won. Darn you, Sir Syrup!), when the red-head noticed his friend's despondent mood.

"Are you okay?" Mabel asked; I noticed she and Phineas had the same sixth sense that told them when something was wrong.

"Fine, fine," Nicole replied. _She's lying_, I knew. I noticed a while back whenever she lied, she always twitched her fingers.

…What? She lied a lot; I was _bound _to notice it.

Phineas noticed it as well (maybe even seeing the same nervous tick), but I guess living with her makes it easier to know what subjects to avoid. Mabel just shrugged, though vaguely aware she was lying as well.

If I was about to ask Nicole something, I forgot what it was when the radio was turned on by Grunkle Stan. I only heard one sentence:

"_Breaking News: The fraud child psychic, Gideon Charles Gleeful, or 'Lil Gideon', as he's better known, has escaped Gravity Falls Maximum State Penitentiary."_


	9. A Plan's Beginnings

**Chapter Nine: A Plan's Beginnings**

**Dipper's POV**

Mabel dropped Sir Syrup in the silence that followed.

"Gideon?" Phineas asked. Mabel shook her head and told him, "I'll explain it later."

The radio rambled on about Gideon as I left the Shack to make sure the stuffy air wasn't making me go crazy. Gideon escaped?! Of all the things that could go wrong today, why did it have to be THAT?! Gideon had tried to kill me, hurt my family, steal the Shack, and even send us home! Now that he was out of jail, most likely wanting revenge… The idea made me shudder.

After a while, I ran into a brown logged building. When I looked up (rubbing one of my cheeks), I was surprised to see I ended up at the Diner, near the entrance. Looking into the window of the door, I saw Nicole, looking out a window. Entering myself, I asked her, "Are you expecting someone?" She turned her head.

"No, you can sit," she told me. I sat across from her as Lazy Susan came by.

"What'll you kids have?" Lazy Susan asked, smile on her face, that creepy lazy eye staring at me.

"Just some water," Nicole said; I asked for the same. Susan was getting our drinks when I asked Nicole why she snuck over here.

"I dunno." She shrugged. "Something just told me to come here."

"Same," I told her. A silence followed.

"How's your ankle?" I asked; Ferb made her a better splint so the others wouldn't notice. She replied it was fine as Susan gave us our drinks, followed with another short silence.

"Who's Gideon Gleeful, anyway?" Nicole asked, taking a sip of her water.

"Trust me, it's a long story." I replied, grabbing the water myself. It was then I had strangest idea that something was in the glass. It didn't look off; I just had this feeling inside that screamed to throw it out the window.

"So… Can I hear it or are you going to stare your water all day?" Nicole was beginning to stare.

I blinked my eyes, taking a sip of my water before starting the story about Gideon. It was probably nothing.

* * *

**Unknown's POV**

_**Log 48, Entry 1:**_

_**I've begun to collect all the subjects.**_

_**9:59 a.m.: Subjects 'Pine Tree' and 'Llama' took the first sips of the Ether. 'Pine Tree' looked suspicious, but Cipher numbed common sense section of brain, and Ether was still drunk. Cipher complained that he could have just as easily knocked them out; 'less hazardous' as well. I ignored this to focus on my job. Subjects received the bill for drinks; ran out without paying the $8.50 soon after the waitress turned around.**_

_**10:03 a.m.: Subjects 'Shooting Star' and 'Glasses' received next batch of Ether. Cipher repeatedly hit the back of my head with a ping pong ball. Said ping pong ball is now locked in my drawer; Cipher is still angry at me. Subjects paid bill and left establishment.**_

_**12:00 p.m.: Subject 'Ice Bag' received Ether in burger. Tear strained; another person was with patient. Not a part of experiment, but didn't seem to cause harm. Soon it became another dine-and-dash from lack of cash.**_

_**12:45 p.m.: Subject 'Question Mark' received Ether. Subject was given a free meal because he saved a man from choking.**_

_**1:01 p.m.: **__**Oh, look at me! I look so serious with a little note pad and stalker cameras! God, I can be such an idiot sometimes! Why don't I listen to that smart and charming Bill Cipher next time? **__**Stole back note pad from Cipher; currently filling out entry in a bathroom stall. Bill claims he'll find me, but will most likely get bored after a few minutes and return to…whatever he's doing. Subjects 'Crescent' and 'Stitched Heart' received Ether. 'Crescent' was also wary to the Ether in food, but either didn't notice and/or care. 'Crescent' also dine-and-dashed, this time after dropping magic powder on the ground before jumping out the window, while the other paid.**_

_**10:58 p.m.: Subject 'Six Point Star', after many hours of long (particularly boring) wait, received last of Ether. Diner about to close; Subject seemed like they didn't much care for probably cold coffee.**_

_**I am now beginning Operation: Collection, Part II.**_

* * *

_**Some Time Later…**_

**No POV**

In an unknown location, Bill Cipher and another person, covered by the appearance of a chair, were sitting in front several monitors. In the monitors, there were several locations throughout the city of Gravity Falls, including the closed Tent of Telepathy, The Mystery Shack, Main Street, the Diner, so on. Bill didn't look happy.

"Come on, let's get them in here! I'm starting to get restless!" Bill complained. The man in the chair rolled his eyes, replying, "Patience, Cipher, patience. We need them to be a little more isolated first."

"Agh!" Cipher groaned, "You and your waiting! I've been waiting for _decades_ now! I'm sick and tired of it!"

The man slightly smiled, biting back a tease. "Don't worry, Cipher; soon your waiting will pay off. The fireworks will begin in three…two…one…"

The man pressed a glowing red button on the table.

The effect was almost simultaneous. Nine people, all littered throughout the city, suddenly fell on the ground, unconscious. Others around them (except for 'Six Pointed Star'; he was alone), gathered around. They felt for pulse and breath; soon realizing they were alive, and after sighing in relief, the groups of townsfolk around the four subjects in town asked around to see who the sleeping person was. Each of them was identified, and authorities were notified for those said people. Four of other the patients, who were near their home, were carried to their beds, soon left alone to sleep in peace. Ambulances picked up four other subjects, and they were admitted in the hospital. The final victim stayed in his spot, no one around for miles, in cold, wet grass. The man smiled, pleased of the plan's success so far.

"Cipher, collect our…'volunteers', if you please," He instructed the demon, to which Bill replied with a salute before vanishing. The man continued to smile evilly.

_Operation Cipher Wheel is ready to begin._

* * *

_**A little while later, inside the Mystery Shack…**_

"Candace, can you check up on the kids? They've been asleep for a while…"

"Alright; they're probably just tired, Mom."

…

"*gasp* MOM, DAD!"

"Candace, what is it? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

"It's the kids! They… THEY'RE GONE!"


	10. Operation: Cipher Wheel Begins

_**A/N: Sorry about not posting yesterday! Things got a little complicated, so I wasn't able to. But, with that said, let the plot finally continue on!**_

**Chapter Ten: Operation: Cipher Wheel Begins**

**No POV**

Dipper woke up, a throbbing headache the only thing telling him he was alive. He groaned, soon standing up, to which he found out his right leg was not working. He fell back on the ground, a few leaves falling off his hair. The ground was smooth and cold, like dark granite.

"Dipper?!" a familiar voice asked, half relieved, half scared. He looked up to find…

"Mabel!" He shouted. Dipper forced himself up as he looked at his frightened sister. Her shooting star raspberry sweater was slightly torn, her light purple skirt had a few patches of dirt, and her hair was covered in leaves. Dipper tried to go toward her, but his feet seemed glued to their spot. Mabel tried the same, but no luck. Another moan was heard, near Mabel this time. She turned her head to her side.

"Nicole?" She gasped. Indeed, it was the Native American, also covered in leaves and dirt.

"What happened?" Nicole asked, rubbing her head, looking at her two companions. The two shrugged, another moan was heard, along with, "I didn't take it! I'm innocent!"

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper said. The Grunkle stood up, in the same state as others.

One by one, others stood up. First it was Soos. Then it was Wendy. Then (with a groan from Wendy and Dipper), Robbie recovered. Then, with her eyes becoming wide, Nicole saw it was…

"Phineas?!" she gasped, seeing the familiar red fiery hair. The inventor saw the others, and spoke the obvious question on everyone's mind: "What the heck's going on here?!"

"Dipper Pines!" another voice angrily announced. The big headed investigator froze. He'd recognize that Southern accent anywhere. He turned around, only for his fears to be confirmed true: Gideon was just across from him, fuming. Nicole coughed, commenting, "Wow, would it _kill _you not to wear a bucket of hairspray? I can smell it from here!"

"Stay out of this, girl!" Gideon yelled at her. It looked like everyone was about to get in a huge dispute when a lightning bolt cracked thunder. Everyone's eyes turned to the center of the room to reveal the all-too familiar Bill Cipher.

"Man, I've always wanted to do that…" Bill thought aloud, then greeted in an upbeat tone, "Hello and welcome, everybody! Bill Cipher's the name. I assume you all know each other?"

"Actually…" Robbie began.

"Great! So we can begin!" Bill ignored.

"Begin what?!" Wendy asked; it was the beginning of many questions. "Who are you?! What do you want?! Why are you doing this?! How are you-?!"

"Ice Bag, you're beginning to annoy me." Bill once again interrupted. He snapped his fingers and Wendy's mouth had completely vanished. Her hands scrambled to where her mouth was, mumbling in panic as Bill asked, "Does anyone have any more questions?"

Everyone had a billion questions on their minds, yet shook their heads. "Good," The demon said, bringing back Wendy's mouth. Then, he began like an announcer, "and let me be the first to say, 'Congratulations'!"

'_Congratulations'? _Everyone thought in unison, but Cipher continued: "Yes, congratulations! All of you were selected to participate in the test run of Operation: Cipher Wheel!"

_Cipher Wheel… That sounds familiar… _Dipper pondered. Bill, not noticing/caring about Dipper, continued on, "I bet all of you are wondering what 'Operation: Cipher Wheel' is? That's the best part! You get to find out as it happens! I know, I know, you don't have to thank me!" Before anyone could ask questions, the demon began to chant a foreign language even the most experienced of linguists couldn't comprehend. As this was begin chanted, certain objects in the room began to glow a bright orange. The shooting star on Mabel's sweater; the stitched heart on Robbie's sweatshirt; Phineas' pocket, which after taking out the contents, turned out to be a photograph of someone wearing glasses; Soos' question mark; something in Wendy's pocket glowed, and when she took it out, it was a coupon for ice; the symbol on Stan's fez; the pine tree on Dipper's hat; a mysterious six pointed star on Gideon's palm that suddenly appeared; a ginormous hand glowed in the only empty spot; and something glowed around Nicole's neck, and when she took it out, it was the llama necklace Dipper gave her not one night ago.

_Oh my God. _Nicole realized, horrified. _He…he _IS _working for 'Them'!_

"See you on the other side!" Cipher laughed insanely. The nine unwilling participates screamed as they dropped down into the nothingness that just opened under their feet.

* * *

Dipper rubbed his head as he stood up, dirt under his feet. He wiped off his knees as another silhouette emerged from the smoke. Dipper was slightly afraid of who it was before he saw a familiar black braid.

"Oh, thank God, it's only you." Dipper sighed, relieved, offering to help up Nicole. She waved a hand in rejection and got up on her own, stretching her back. Nicole looked around. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, stating the obvious elephant in the room.

Dipper looked around as well; indeed, none of the others were with them. The only other items in the room were two backpacks, one olive green and the other a light blue.

"I guess we're in this alone," Dipper shrugged, grabbing the two bags. He offered one to Nicole as he said, "At least you're not the worst company."

She seized the green bag from Dipper as she said, "The feeling's mutual," though her tone suggested otherwise. A hallway appeared before them. Considering there were no other doors, Dipper asked Nicole, "What do you think's beyond there?"

Nicole shrugged. "I guess we're about to find out."

* * *

Phineas and Mabel got up simultaneously, groaning. They looked at each other for a millisecond before Mabel engulfed the Flynn in a bear hug.

"God, I am _so _sorry if Dipper and I somehow got you and Nicole into this!" She apologized.

"It's fine, Mabel; I don't think it's either one of your faults." Phineas assured, running out of oxygen. Mabel released him right before Phineas noticed the bags and the entrance way. The bags were identical to Nicole and Dipper's, only one was pink and the other red. Phineas instantly grabbed the red one and practically ripped it open. He grabbed a huge coil of rope and tied an end around his waist.

"Whatcha doin' there, Phineas?" Mabel asked the red head, head turned to the side.

"Do you know the legend of the Minotaur?" Phineas asked, tying the other end around a boulder, to which Mabel nodded. "Well, remember what Theseus did in order to find his way out of the maze?"

"Tie the thread around his waist?" Mabel asked as a response.

"Bingo!" Phineas smiled. "So, just in case we get lost in…whatever this is, we just follow the rope back!"

"Whoa! That's crazy! I was thinking the exact same idea you just had!" Mabel proclaimed, tying a rope around her own waist and the same boulder as Phineas did. "I love the Greek myths just like you, too! It's sorta, like, meant to be or something!" She blinked her eyes flirtatiously, hoping he'd take the hint.

Of course, Phineas stayed oblivious as always. "That's awesome that you read the Greek myths! I didn't think many kids were into that anymore! What's your favorite myth? Mine is Daedalus and Icarus! No, it's the myth of Tantalus! No, it's the story of Hephaestus! No, it's-!"

Phineas continued to list myths as Mabel frowned. Getting his attention, she realized, was _not_ going to be easy.

* * *

Robbie got up and stretched his back. _Great, _he thought, _taken by a triangle man and now stranded in a random cave. How can this get any worse?_

A feminine voice moaned, causing Robbie to turn his head. It was revealed to be Wendy, wiping dirt off her shirt. Robbie sighed; if he was going to get Wendy back, he might as well start trying to be better.

"Hey," he asked, extending his hand, "you okay?"

Wendy scowled at the sight of him. "Fine," she spat, getting up.

Robbie sighed. "Look, I messed up big time. I lay awake at night thinking about it. But can you find it in your heart to…you know…take me back?"

There was a brief silence before another voice broke it. "S'up, dudes?" Soos candidly asked, before noticing the bags. "Whoa, dudes! We're going on a road trip! I love road trips!"

Robbie frowned before seeing Wendy grab a red flannel backpack. She headed to the entrance of whatever Cipher had planned, telling Soos to follow her. Soos did, blissfully unaware of current events, grabbing a teal bag, recalling all of the trips he went on.

The emo teen sighed before grabbing a black bag, following his two companions.

* * *

Stan landed masterfully on his feet, almost as if he'd anticipated this happening. His partner Gideon, however, was less graceful, landing flat on his face. Seeing his companion, Gideon got up promptly and began, "Well, well, Stanford Pines! I should have guessed that I would have gotten stuck with a-!"

"Shut up, Gideon." Stan ordered, looking around the cave. Gideon looked appalled at Stan's tone. "What did you-?"

Stan suddenly glared at Gideon with daggers. "Shut. Up. Gideon." Stan's voice wasn't even that loud, but Gideon bit on his tongue. This wasn't the Stan he knew. This was someone…some_thing _else.

Stan's eyes locked onto the yellow pack that was there, grabbing it as he mumbled something about how he should have seen this coming. He made his way to the designated entrance, tossing the other baby blue pack to the child 'physic' with him, instructing, "Stay close."

Gideon's jaw dropped at Stan's weird new behavior. However, it didn't stop Gideon from following his business rival.

In fact, it gave him extra motivation.


	11. Into the Rabbit Hole

_**A/N: Hi! Okay, I'm going to be changing the posting dates of my story. It's now only going to be Tuesdays only, as I need more time to write the next chapters.**_

**Chapter Eleven: Into the Rabbit Hole**

**Nicole's POV**

God, I was such an idiot!

How could I not seeit? Of course Dipper was a part of 'Them'! He gained just enough of my trust to trick me into asking for that llama necklace!

Though I was still angry at Dipper, I decided to keep him around. I knew he still had the Number 3 book with him. He said that it contained information about the monsters, and he must have had some experience facing these creatures face-to-face. And if I had trouble with freaking GNOMES, I was going to need all the help all I could get.

The entrance closed behind us when we passed through the doorway, making it pitch black. Light returned a few seconds later when Dipper turned on a flashlight.

"Carry it with me, just in case," he explained, seeing my raised eyebrow.

I didn't reply as we headed forward. A few minutes passed as we arrived in a new room. It was big, and from the light of the flashlight, bare to the bone. In fact, the only thing in there was a hole, which we went up to. It was very dark and deep; I threw in a rock I had in my shoe, and we didn't even hear it hit the bottom. On the other side of the room was another entryway, similar to the one we had just gone through.

Dipper spoke after a moment. "Wow. Bill didn't even make this a hard choice. Come on; if the rest of the choices are like this, we'll be able to leave in twenty minutes." We began to head toward the hallway before a gold blur whipped by before heading into the hole. I turned just in time to see it was a jackalope; Gold-Eyes.

"Dipper, did you see that?" I asked him.

"You mean the jackalope?" He asked in response. I nodded as he answered, "Yeah, why?"

"I think we should follow it," I told him; for some reason, I felt like Gold-Eyes was leading me somewhere.

"What? Nicole, that's a terrible idea!" Dipper responded, almost horrified at my suggestion. "You saw how deep that think is, and God knowswhat's at the bottom! Let's just stick to the hallway."

"Dipper, we're following the jackalope." I more ordered than suggested now; I _knew _Gold Eyes was leading me somewhere now, with Dipper's reaction. He didn't want me to see what was down there; maybe it was a part of a plan for 'Them'…

"Nicole, we don't have time to for this!" Dipper grabbed my wrist. "Let's just-."

I didn't let him finish. I slipped my hand out of his (rather weak) grip and ran to the hole. Before he could even shout my name, I jumped down, not a moment's second thought.

**Dipper's POV**

"NICOLE!" I shouted as the Native-American was plunging into the darkness. What was going on with her?! One moment, she's the girl I talked to last night, the next she's the girl that threatened to kill me with an arrow! I just didn't get it! I shined my light inside the hole just to see a flash of raven hair disappear. I sighed; I really didn't have a choice.

I jumped down after her.

* * *

**No POV**

Mabel and Phineas appeared in a room that might have been M. C. Escher's kindergarten doodle. It was filled with many different doors, all different sizes, colors, and shapes. Besides that, it was surrounded by tan and red polka dots. On a dark wood table in the center of the room, there were twelve silver keys, four bronze keys, a gold key, and a small saw. Phineas tried one of the larger doors, only to find it locked.

"Dang, this could take hours!" Mabel complained, picking up one of the silver keys.

"Hmm…" Phineas put his hand on his chin. "There's a trick here, but I can't figure it out…"

"Hey Phineas, look!" Mabel shouted, causing Phineas to turn. She had grabbed some of the silver keys and, using the lock sets, created a smiley face, nose and eyes included.

"Mabel, you're a genius!" Phineas smiled.

"Finally, my arts and crafts skills are recognized!" Mabel smiled back. "Admittedly, not my best work, but it's a start."

"Hey Mabel, can you hand me the bronze keys?" Phineas asked, using the remainder of the silver keys already. Phineas' structure resembled a staircase.

"Uh…sure," Mabel handed Phineas the keys. "But if you're trying to make a smiley face of your own, you're really off."

"What?" Phineas was standing on the top of the recently placed silver keys. "Oh, no, I'm not making a face. But your key design did give me an idea. Look!" He pointed up to a triangle shaped door with a gold knob. "We can use the keys like stairs!"

"Oh, I get it now!" Mabel followed his example and began to climb up his makeshift staircase. Phineas reached the top and asked Mabel for the gold key. She snagged the key and threw it up to Phineas, who caught it and proceeded to open the door. He slipped through the oddly shaped door and then asked, "Can I get the saw?"

Mabel complied, handing him the rusty saw. He faced the opposite of Mabel and began to saw open an entryway. Once complete, Phineas offered his hand. Mabel slightly blushed, smiling as she accepted. He pulled her up as he said, "Come on, last one to the end is a rotten egg!" He let go of her hand almost instantly as he began to crawl down the tight space they were in.

Though slightly disappointed, Mabel followed his lead.

* * *

Awkward silence between Robbie, Wendy, and Soos followed to the room they entered. It was a forest, the overwhelming scents of Pine and Oak reminding each of them of home. They continued along a rugged, dirt path until it separated in front of an oak, two arrows being nailed up to the tree, pointing right and left.

"We should go right," Robbie said, looking down a smoother path. "The smoother road could mean a town or something."

"No, we should go left," Wendy argued, looking down a rougher path. "My dad's been a woodsman my whole life. I know the woods a lot better than you do."

"Wendy, a rougher path means it goes deeper in the woods, something we don't need right now." Robbie countered, heading toward the right road. "Come on."

"Oh, so you _suddenly_ know everything about the forest, huh?" Wendy's fists were clenched as she turned to Soos. "Soos, who do think's right: an arrogant jerk who wears mascara on a regular basis, or the daughter of a lumberjack?"

"It's eye paint for men! God, how many times do I explain that?!" Robbie defended, denying the fact he wears women's makeup.

"Until they _invent _eye paint for men," Wendy crossed her arms.

The two got into an argument on which way to go. Soos, meanwhile, noticed a blur of yellow in one of the trees. Curious, Soos decided to investigate. When he got towards the area, an aura of gold caught his eye. It was revealed to be a fat cat. It had purple and violet stripes with mismatched eyes. The cat was resting nonchalantly on a tree branch as Soos inquired, "S'up?"

"The girl's right," the cat stated, though it was not the answer Soos aimed for. "Go down the boy's path and you'll go in circles."

There was a moment of silence. "Cool. Thanks!" Soos waved good-bye, surprisingly not questioning why the purple cat could talk; not even why the cat was _purple _to begin with. He went by the still arguing Wendy and Robbie and said, "This way, dudes!"

"Ha!" Wendy laughed, pleased that Soos chose her path. "Soos, why are you agreeing with Wendy?" Robbie demanded.

"Cause the magic cat told me to!" Soos decided that was the best explanation to give. Robbie was about to gesture to Wendy that Soos must have been crazy, but she had already descended on her path, smugly grinning. Soon, Robbie, though begrudgingly, was jogging to catch up.

* * *

Stan and Gideon (who was keeping his distance) finally reached their room. It was circled with doors, almost all the same size except for the final one, barely bigger than a candle you'd see in church. There was a table in the middle of the room, a dark brown; on it, there was a small key, a small white cake that said in a fancy green script "_Eat Me", _and a dark liquid in a small vial that said _"Drink Me" _on a small label. Stan scoffed.

"This is our big test?" He said, then turning to the ceiling. "Brilliant, Bill! At this rate, we'll leave in ten minutes!"

Stan picked up the cake and the key and put it inside his pocket. He uncapped the bottle and handed it to Gideon. "Take a sip."

"What _is_ that?" Gideon almost gagged at the foul stench of the liquid, Stan neither noticing and/or caring. "Something to get us out of here," the old man answered. "Just hold your breath and drink."

"No." Gideon crossed his arms.

Stan groaned. "Kid, we don't have time for this. Just drink it!"

"No!"

"Gideon, listen…!"

"NO! YOU LISTEN! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I GOT HERE, BUT YOU SEEM TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PLACE! I WANT ANSWERS! AND I REFUSE TO LEAVE WITHOUT THEM!"

"This isn't the best time! Look, I'll explain everything after we get in, but not now!"

"NO!"

"GIDEON!"

As the boy opened his mouth, Stan managed to get a little of the drink in his mouth. Gideon gagged; the liquid tasted worse than it smelled. Before he could yell at Stan, he shrieked in pain. He gripped his stomach; it felt like it was getting smaller under his grasp. He looked at his hand, and almost screamed. It was shrinking; yes, _shrinking_; to the size of a baby doll's. It wasn't just his hand, either. His arms, legs, even his head felt like they were shriveling up. Stan also took a swing, and though looking like he might throw up, he still stood his ground. Pretty soon, the two of them were barely the size of a mouse. While Gideon was dumbfounded by the now enormous room, Stan jogged to the small door. He grabbed the small key (now slightly bigger), still in his pocket, and unlocked it. The door opened with ease. Gideon saw Stan opening the door, and soon the two had entered, expecting to see a strange world inside it.

Admittedly, both were surprised to see that their "strange" world looked exactly the woods outside Gravity Falls. The towering Pine and Oak trees combined to a very strong, perfumed smell. Stan got out the small cake, and broke off a piece for Gideon. The small bite both of them had was much better than the foul drink. It had a vanilla-like taste, the icing having a buttermilk flavor to it. They might have been tempted to eat more if they didn't return to normal size after it. Stan put the growing cake in his pocket.

"Did Bill let us out?" Gideon asked, feeling the heat of the fading sunlight on his skin.

Stan grabbed a handful of dirt; it felt real, it even smelled real. But upon further examination, there were the slightest hints of gold spirals flickering from time to time.

"No." The older man replied, putting down the dirt. "He's trying to make us let our guard down." He noticed a dirt road, leading much deeper into the forest. He sighed. "Come on; we better get going."

Stan began to walk down the trail when he noticed Gideon wasn't following. He then remembered what he had said before they entered here. "Wait, are you seriously…?" Gideon crossed his arms. "Look, we don't have time-!" Gideon sat down on a nearby log.

"Well?" Gideon said.

Stan stayed quiet a moment. He once more sighed, looking a log beside him. Sitting down, he interlocked his fingers, thinking a moment.

"Where to begin?"


	12. Where He Began

_**A/N: Hi! So, I did watch the Season 2 premiere of Gravity Falls. It was AWESOME and I can't wait for more! However, none of the events of Season 2 will be in this story, and I'm going strictly by Season 1 alone. The only exception would be if it's a major character development which could come in handy in my story, but nothing else.**_

_**Oh, by the way, the layout of the rest of the story will follow each individual group, and maybe the occasional cut in with Bill and his "buddy". Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**_

**Chapter Twelve: Where He Began**

**No POV**

"I was a kid when it all started." Stan began. "My family used to always come up here during the summer. It wasn't long before I realized there were strange things in this town. It also wasn't long before I knew how to make a profit off of it. I used to guide other kids to the other strange parts of this town. Not too soon after, people began to notice me. However, I also got the attention of…a group. For my own safety, I'm not going to say who. These people…they knew everything about this place. Every monster, every curse, every demon; they could name 'em all. So, I managed to get into the group rather quickly; in fact, it's how I got my fez. So, that's how I've figured out everything so far; they've prepared me in case something like this ever happened."

There was a silence. Stan soon stood up, saying, "We better get a move on; it'll get dark soon."

Gideon complied. Before the two entered deeper into the forest, however, Gideon asked, "Is… Is that how you first met Bill?"

Stan was quiet a moment. "Yeah," he said. "That's how I met him."

_**Afterwards…**_

The man behind the monitor sighed, looking at Stan's screen. It got pitch-perfect audio, and he had just heard everything that Stan said. As if on cue, Bill entered the room.

"Ouch, he didn't even mention you." Bill commented, hovering behind the chair over the man's shoulder. "That's rough, buddy."

"I'm not your 'buddy'," the man snapped, his head turning to see Bill. After a moment, it turned back to the monitors. "…And don't act so surprised that he didn't mention me. You know perfectly well why."

"Oh, lighten up, will you?" Bill said. "You care too much about the Pines."

"And why wouldn't I?!" He spoke with a fire in his voice. "They are important to me, you know! Maybe I shouldn't have put them in your sick game to begin with!"

"Hey, you better watch your tone!" Bill barked, spinning around to look the man in the face. "Let's not forget who pulled you out of this 'sick game' to begin with! And let's remember he can put you back in just as easily! Is there anything _else_ you care to add, 'Six-Fingered Hand'?"

The man stayed quiet. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Bill said, vanishing from the room.

_God, I hate that guy. _"Six-Fingered Hand" thought, resuming work on the monitors.

_**Meanwhile…**_

Robbie, Wendy, and Soos wandered around the woods for a decent hour before they found something. It resembled a store of some sort, though the sign was too weathered down to be legible. There was a fence surrounding the premise, high enough to have to climb with a barbwire top, but there was a huge hole right in the middle of it all.

With some struggling from Soos to get through (as his roundness proved to be quite a challenge), the three of them stood in front of the store. Robbie tried the door.

"Locked," he said. Wendy looked around the premises. "I think we should-."

"Wait a minute." Wendy told him, running to the side of the store, which had an old dumpster. She climbed on the dumpster, soon hopping on the roof. After this, Wendy kicked in the old vent cover, which crumbled soon after, allowing her to slip right in. A few minutes passed before she opened up the front door with ease. There was a silence for a moment or two.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Soos smiled. He went through the door, Wendy holding it open, high-fiving her as he entered. Robbie looked stunned.

"Whoa… How did you…?" Robbie began.

"It was just like…that place we went to a while back," Wendy replied, hesitantly at first, but she soon returned to her cool tone. "I figured if Dipper could do it, so could I."

Robbie, though scowling at the mention of Dipper's name, went through the door, Wendy following soon after.

The store was barely anything anymore. All the food was either spoiled or turned to dusk, cobwebs littered around the aisles. Wendy and Robbie shivered almost in unison.

"What is it?" Soos asked.

"Oh, uh…" Wendy scratched the back of her neck.

"Déjà vu-ish, that's all." Robbie explained. Both of them had felt like they've been in there before. It happened a long time ago, with neither one of them sure whether or not it was a trick of some sort. Maybe the expired Pitt sodas were starting to mess with their heads a little…

As they split up, touring around, Wendy picked up a newspaper. The main headline was "PIZZA CRUST DECLARED DELICIOUS". _Alright, that's just messed up, _she thought, her mind once more turning to the event at a certain convenience mart.

"Hey, dudes, check it out!" Soos yelled. Wendy shook her head as she put down the paper, Robbie joining her as they jogged to where he was.

What they saw made them gasp.

Soos had decided to lay down in one of the taped outlines of a couple, male and female, saying, "Look at me, I'm a dead body!" with a toothy grin.

"Soos-!" Robbie began to warn, but it was too late.

The outline he was laying in began to glow a ghostly blue.

* * *

Mabel and Phineas continued down their trek until a grate flooded with light near the end. They went over by the grate, looking down. It didn't look like much of anything; just a square of white between metal beams. There wasn't anything to be heard, either, so that didn't help things. The two of them looked at each other.

"I should go first," Phineas said, grabbing the saw from before. "You know, just in case."

Mabel nodded as Phineas sawed off the square grate. He picked it up by the edges before leaving on the square of metal next to him, entering the blank room feet first. A few moments passed in silence; Mabel began to bite her lip.

"Okay, we're good!" Phineas proclaimed, his head appearing under the grate. Mabel smiled in relief, entering the room.

It was a little more than it first appeared to be; the white floor turned out to be marble, with the walls around them black. There was a brown, oak door in the middle of it all, open just a crack. Seeing no other alternative, Mabel and Phineas entered into the next room. It looked like an old storage room, probably not being in use for years. The dim room's only light source was a window, which shown its light on a puddle.

That's when they noticed the contents of the cramped room: several wax figurines, modeling after many famous people, both of fiction and reality. Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, William Shakespeare, Coolio, the Queen of England, and Larry King was just a few of the many names that were included in the collection.

Mabel almost immediately grabbed Phineas' wrist.

"We need to get out of here!" she whispered, as if she was afraid someone would hear.

"Mabel, relax." Phineas said, turning his back on a Wax Genghis Khan. "It's just a few old wax figures."

"Phineas, you don't understand-!" Mabel tried to explain, only to be cut off by Phineas.

"It's alright." He reassured. "Nothing's-Whoa!"

Phineas turned back towards the Genghis Khan figure, whom was closer than last time, a raised wax sword in his hand, like he was about to attack the Flynn.

"Wasn't he over there a few seconds ago…?" Phineas noticed, turning his head away from the figurine for a moment. The red-head soon noticed a trail of footprints, each left footstep containing a hole, coming off the stand and near him. Another curious note was how Wax Genghis Khan was completely detached from the stand. Yes, the stand he came from was completely empty. _So how is he able to stay up? _Phineas began to wonder.

"PHINEAS, WATCH OUT!" Mabel screamed, pushing him out of the way, just as something cut both of the ropes' trails, only leaving the remains around their waists.

The two of them turned to discover the Wax Genghis Kahn, standing back up to his scale height. They gapped, wordlessly, as the wax figures began to move on their own, Genghis Kahn beginning to smile a wicked grin.

* * *

Nicole groaned, grabbing her head.

She had plummeted God knows how high up, and landed face first into hard dirt. When she began to stand up, she felt a hard jab of pain in her chest, causing her to shout a bit. She grabbed her chest and something felt broken.

_Oh great, _she thought. _I think I broke a few ribs. All because an assumption on some jackalope leading me somewhere. Brilliant, Nicole, just BRILLIANT._

When she did manage to stand up, she once more felt a jab of pain, this time coming from her ankle. She looked down and discovered that Ferb's splint from her encounter with the Gnomes had shattered in half. _And I have to deal with a limp now. Again, BRILLIANT._

She looked around the cavern. It had a light coming from an unknown source, and the place itself was huge. There was a pond of water not too far to where she was, with everywhere else being rocks with a purple-ish hue. Nicole was wiping off some of the grime off her as she heard a voice say, "Hey, are you alright?"

She looked up to discover Dipper on one of the upper levels. "Fine," she lied. "Now come on and get down from there, we-."

Nicole was interrupted by another voice, this time frantic/mad. "Nicole, are you crazy?! You could have gotten both of us killed! I can't believe you'd-!" When it came out of the shadows, Nicole's eyes widened as it turned out to be another Dipper. The second Dipper stopped when he noticed his copy on another level.

"What the-I thought you disintegrated!" The upper-level Dipper pointed a finger at the other one, as if he'd seen him before.

"What are you talking about? _I'm _the real Dipper here!" The other proclaimed. "_You're _the one who should be disintegrated!"

"Nicole, don't listen to him. I'm the real Dipper!"

"Liar! I'm the real one!"

"Don't listen to either one of them!" Another voiced joined. It turned out to be yet another Dipper. The three of them began to argue on which the real one was. Soon, they were popping out of everywhere. Copy after copy came, each claiming to be the real Dipper Pines, joining the argument. Accusations of the false one flew all around, as none of them were going to admit which was a fake. The worse thing, however, was that each one looked exactly the same; the backpack Dipper wore earlier wasn't anywhere, and Nicole couldn't tell who the real one was.

_Oh no. _Nicole thought, as more Dippers came in the room.


	13. Need A Hand? Part 1

_**A/N: Hi! Okay, so the content for this chapter is so long that I need to break it into two parts. Hopefully this won't happen often, but for now, this is just going to be about Nicole, Dipper, Phineas, Mabel, and two new guests that'll be joining for a while**__**. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter Thirteen: Need A Hand? Part 1**

**Nicole's POV**

Is it weird for me to say that being surrounded by God knows how many Dippers, each insisting on which was the real one, is the most _normal _thing that's happened to me today?

I mean, sure, it's bad, considering one of them is my only lifeline to whatever's going on, but at least it's not life-threatening or anything.

"Hey," I asked one of the closer ones. "What's supposed to be happening here?"

"Oh, um…" He thought for a moment, soon snapping his fingers, remembering something. "Okay, you need to choose which one of us is real." Hm, sounded easy enough. "You get three chances, and if you fail, we kill you both!"

…Well… Forget what I said a few minutes ago, then.

I backed away from the oddly charismatic clone (who was once more sucked back into the argument), looking around the area. _Okay, think; is there anything the clones have in common besides the whole arguing-thing? _I thought, looking closely at a few of them. As it turned out, many of them were slightly paled, at least compared to the real Dipper. After looking for a few minutes, I finally decided on one, not too far away from me. As I walked towards him, I wondered how exactly I "chose him". What, would the others just vanish?

I lightly tapped him on the shoulder before getting my answer. The Dipper fell silent, standing stiff. Suddenly, his eyes grew a ghostly white, and he began mumbling gibberish. Everyone grew silent, looking at the clone. It grew louder, soon climaxing to an ear-splitting scream, with the Dipper grabbing his head in pain. Then, he rapidly began to melt, with only a few moments passing before he was a puddle. To finish off, the Dipper clone dissolved into the ground. Once the horrific display was over, everything was silent.

"Come on, Nicole," Dipper (I dunno, thirty-five?) said. "Just pick me already so we can get a move on!"

"Hey, I'm the real one here!" Another one said, the argument sparking up again. Meanwhile, I (gaping at how little they cared that the horrific scene that had just happened) was looking around. Okay, I just lost a guess. At least I had two more. It was a few minutes of hearing everyone argue before I settled on another one. I hesitated, though; come on, wouldn't you? However, my life was on stake here, as well as Dipper's. I tapped his shoulder.

This time, he clutched his neck, like he was suffocating. He fell in the empty dirt patch behind him, which unfortunately included one of my shoes, squirming the whole time. I tried to help him up, but it didn't help matters. He still disintegrated moments later, becoming one with the dirt like the other one. Well, except the part that was atop my foot. I yelped, wiping off the Dipper on my shoe. Once I got as much as I could off, I began to pant, my heart racing. The Dippers were still arguing (I don't think they even noticed what had just happened) as I looked frantically around. _Focus, Nicole! You only have one guess left here!_

I was beginning to feel my palms get sweaty as I was yanked back behind a large rock. Whoever it was let go of my green backpack as I whipped my head around to see it was yet another Dipper.

"Wait, before you say anything, I know I'm not the real Dipper." He said, gesturing to his hat as proof. I looked at it; in fading, black ink, the number "2" was written where a pine tree should have been.

"Then why'd you pull me back here?" I asked.

"I'll explain it when I can, but I know there's a bucket in your backpack." He told me; he was starting to back up into a small cave. "Fill it up with the water from the pond and splash it on the clones. When you find Dipper, come and see me. I'll be in this cave." Before I could ask any questions, he ran into the cave.

Not knowing what else to do, I took my backpack off and opened it. Along with a few snacks and an empty water canteen, somehow a sliver bucket managed to fit inside. How that's possible is a complete mystery to me, but if it means getting out of this cave quicker, I'll believe anything.

I left the backpack behind the rock as I carried the bucket to the water to the small lake, filling it with cold water. _Please let this work…_ I thought as I splashed the closest Dippers with the water.

The effect was almost simultaneous. The spots that got hit with water began to bubble as the Dippers panicked. Pretty soon, they were beginning to melt, the color seeming to run off their skins. This time, the Dippers did look scared; they looked terrified at the droplets of water still on the bucket I held, not at the clones that just became a puddle. That's when I noticed something: the smell. It smelled a lot like ink in here.

…Like ink from a pen you would use on paper! That's it! Paper! The clones were made of paper!

And I just found their weakness.

Pretty soon, I was shoveling water like a madman at the clones. They all began to scramble away, not wanting to dissolve like so many of the others. Within minutes all the Dippers were either puddles on the ground or had gotten away. Well, all except one, who laid behind one of the rocks near the hole, unconscious.

It wasn't before long that I splashed his face with water.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

I was drenched from my waist up before I finally shot awake.

That hole in the middle of the floor went really deep; in all honestly, I'm surprised that I didn't get a broken neck. But, apparently, I had missed a few things, because when I finally opened my eyes, I saw Nicole, holding a bucket with dripping water, half covered in dirt and limping, a dark area forming where some of her ribs should be.

What was it that I said when I saw that Nicole was the person I got stuck with? "At least you're not the worst of company?" Yeah, I officially retract that statement. This woman was most likely a psychopath.

"What the heck, Nicole?! Do you realize we could have been killed by that fall?!" I angrily asked.

She slightly chuckled. "Yep, it's you alright…" she said. "And sorry about the whole water-thing, I had to make sure you weren't made of paper."

…Okay, I'm convinced; this woman is DEFINITELY a psychopath!

I was about to ask why she was carrying a bucket (or how she even got a bucket in the first place), only to be cut off by my own shout of pain. I had tried to stand up, but as soon as my right leg got the tiniest bit of pressure, it had given up on me. I fell back on the ground. Nicole helped me up and I used her side for support.

"You still have your backpack?" She asked, like she wanted to move pass the huge fall that had happened a few minutes ago.

"Yeah," I said, looking behind to see the blue bag still there. I picked it up as I began to ask, "Why do you need-?"

"I'll explain later." She interrupted. "Right now, we have to get out of here."

She practically dragged me behind a rock, where there looked like a cave. She grabbed her own bag, which was zipped open, stuffing the still wet bucket inside. She slung it over her shoulder (which hit me on the side of my head) and we went into the cave. It was a little darker than outside, but not by a lot. We had only taken three or four steps in before a shadow came out. I freaked out a bit a first, but as soon as he got into the light, I immediately recognized the number 2 on his hat.

"Tyrone!" I happily exclaimed. Nicole raised an eyebrow.

"'Tyrone'? You mean all those clones outside weren't named Dipper?" Nicole asked…Tyrone, I suppose, since I had no idea what she meant.

"No, they were numbered." Tyrone replied. "I'm the only one with a different name."

"What are you doing here? I thought you melted on the roof a long time ago!" I asked, only one of a million questions.

"Bill brought me back for the maze." He explained. "It's all a part of his 'grand plan' apparently." He looked down the cave, which seemed to get deeper. "Speaking of which, we better keep moving. The other Dippers should be heading back soon."

Tyrone lead the way as Nicole and I, after sharing a brief glance, followed.

* * *

**No POV**

Phineas couldn't believe his eyes.

Wax figures-inanimate objects, which means _not alive_-were beginning to form a circle around Mabel and him.

"But…aren't you…?" Phineas began to ask, bewildered.

Wax Sherlock Holmes slightly grinned. "It appears the triangle-headed one is confused." He began. "My dear boy, we have been cursed for several years now to come alive at the waxing moon. Stan bought us at a garage sale, only to be but away in storage for a decade. When we were found once again, we were about to get our long awaited revenge on Stan, but your female friend here and her brother destroyed us. We thought we were going to be gone forever. However, we have been brought back by a force that we ourselves do not fully understand. I was hoping the short-pants one to be here so I could destroy him…but, I suppose you two will have to do." He unsheathed a sword, Mabel once more grabbing Phineas' wrist as the figure's eyes turned solid white. The two of them barely dodged wax fists, feet, axes, and even Coolio's head (which unfortunately collided with the wood floor) before they crawled through a small entrance in one of the walls.

This lead to an enormous cave, surrounded by a baby blue stream and white sand, the rocks all around them glistening with water. A few crystals were even in there, which reflected with a rainbow pattern. They might have stopped to admire the pretty scene if a wax ax did miss their heads a moment later. They ran toward a makeshift mountain as Phineas asked, "Mabel, what do we do to destroy those things?"

"Well, the last time this happened, we were able to get rid of them with heat. But I don't see any matches or anything in here!" Mabel had unzipped her backpack to search for anything that could help. "Ooh, I didn't know there were stickers in here!"

Phineas looked around the cave. At the top of the mountain, there was a large patch of sunlight. Looking inside his own backpack, Phineas also found a magnifying glass, along with a bunch of sticks. He smiled.

"Mabel, follow me; I have an idea!" He said, as Mabel was looking through the google-eyed stickers. She dropped them back in her bag as the two of them began climbing the mountain. Meanwhile, the wax figures had already gotten through, and saw the two children climbing the big rock. They charged towards them, and they were not too far behind the children in a matter of moments.

However, Mabel and Phineas managed to reach the top of the mountain, Phineas putting the magnifying glass over one of the sticks.

"They're getting closer!" Mabel warned, seeing the wax figures grow closer. Luckily, Phineas' plan had worked; the stick had caught on fire on the tip, growing bigger by the moment. But, at that exact moment, Wax Genghis Khan had reached the top, grabbing Mabel's ankle. She slightly shouted, Phineas turning to see what was happening.

"Mabel, catch!" He said, tossing the flaming stick to her. She caught it, soon sticking it in Genghis' head. It worked, as the wax man fell over, losing his grip on Mabel's ankle, his head melting.

It soon became a pattern: Phineas would light one of the sticks, and Mabel would use it to get rid of the oncoming wax figures, which fell on top of the other rapidly melting wax figures. She stabbed Lizzie Borden through the heart, though Lizzie tried to hit Mabel with her ax; decapitated Larry King, to which he thought aloud that it felt awfully familiar; William Shakespeare, reciting poetry, was cut in half at the torso; Mabel snatched the decapitated Coolio head from his body before sticking a torch in his chest, which she used to get rid of Robin Hood and John Wilkes Booth; she accidentally dropped Coolio's head before Edgar Allen Poe came up, whom she stabbed in the hand, which caused him to lose his grip on the mountain.

"I think that's the last of them." Mabel said, the two of them sighing in relief. That's when a thought occurred to Phineas.

"Hey, where's Wax Sherlock?" He said, looking around. Mabel was about to answer when Sherlock suddenly popped out of nowhere, tackling the girl. The two of them landed under the light opening, but Sherlock wasn't melting, despite being right under it.

"How aren't you melting?" Mabel asked, backing away from the now standing Holmes.

"Sunblock, SPF 100." He replied, once more getting out his sword.

Phineas was about to try and get under the sunlight, but Sherlock was one step ahead of him, knocking the magnifying glass out of his hand. "The magnifying glass!" Phineas shouted, attempting to grab it, but the magnifying glass plummeted to the ground, landing with a loud crack.

"You called _that _a magnifying glass?" Sherlock scoffed. "Have you seen mine? It's huge!" He pulled out his magnifying glass, but it was half melted by the sunlight. "Well, it was." Sherlock discarded the melted object before turning his attention to Mabel.

Meanwhile, Phineas looked around the dirt around him, desperate for something-_anything_-that would help creating a spark. His answer came when something hit the back of his head. Though it slight hurt, Phineas turned to see a seashell. Realizing that was the exact thing he needed, he quickly got to work on creating a spark.

While this was happening, Mabel was backing up from Wax Sherlock Holmes. However, she reached a problem: Mabel had run out of space, and her hand could feel only the tip of the plummet that waited if she slipped.

_Come on, come on… _Phineas thought, as he still attempted a fire. Sherlock stood right over a panicked Mabel.

"Any last words?" He asked, raising his sword. Just then, Phineas had finally achieved a small fire, which blew out to become an extremely hot tip.

The Flynn wasted no time; he dropped the seashell before quickly shoving the stick in-between Sherlock's eyes. Sherlock yelled in pain, walking backwards before finally plummeting off a cliff, becoming stuck in the sticky remains of the others.

Phineas walked over to Mabel. "Are you alright?" He asked, offering his hand.

Mabel smiled, accepting her crush's hand. "I'm fine." She replied, getting up. It was then Mabel noticed the pink seashell Phineas had used a few moments ago. She picked it up, as Phineas discovered it was a necklace, the sting it had attached too dark to be noticed right away. "Hey, this looks exactly like-."

"Mabel!" A voice with a Spanish accent interrupted. Mabel looked down to see…

"Mermando!" She shouted back, smiling as she quickly climbed down the rocks, Phineas following. Once the two of them reached the bottom, Phineas was able to see who Mabel was so excited to see. The deep voiced man, though he didn't look too much older than Mabel, was dark skinned, most likely coming from his clear Hispanic heritage; had an indeterminable eye color; long, brown hair, with a small mustache; and, from the grin he was wearing, pearl-white teeth with a gap between his two front ones. As he went towards Mermando, however, Phineas noticed something unusual: instead of feet, Mermando had a vivid green tail, darker at the tip and the waist.

"What are you doing here?" Mabel asked, kneeling to look at his eyes.

"I do not know: I was swimming in the Gulf with my family one moment, and the next I am here. But as soon as I heard your voice in the cave, I just had to come and find you." Mermando replied. He then looked at Phineas. "Speaking of which, does your Nacho-headed friend happen to still have my necklace?"

Phineas blinked before handing Mermando his necklace. "His name is Phineas, by the way." Mabel commented.

"Not a man of many words, I see." Mermando chuckled.

"Oh, no, it's not that. It's just… I can't believe I'm talking to a merman right now." Phineas said.

"You'd be surprised how often I hear that." Mermando said.

"Say, Mermando, do you happen to know where the stream ends?" Mabel asked.

He thought a moment. "I think it ends at some sort of big lake or ocean. Why do you ask?" Mermando replied.

"Can you help us get to the end? We're a bit lost." Mabel smiled.

"Of course!" He instantly replied. Mermando dove into the water as Mabel grabbed her backpack near the wax figures.

"Come back and fight us!" Sherlock demanded, struggling to get up in the wax.

"Sorry, we really can't right now." Mabel apologized. She grabbed one of the cat google-eyed stickers, said "Have a sticker!", and stuck it on Holmes' face with a "Boop!"

Sherlock Holmes continued to shout at them to stay and fight as Phineas and Mabel followed Mermando downstream.


	14. Need A Hand? Part 2

_**A/N: Hi! Alright, unfortunately I have to go back on school on Thursday, so these might come out later than usual. But don't worry, the story will still go on, just a bit later, that's all. So, without further ado, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Fourteen: Need A Hand? Part 2**

**No POV**

Soos had no idea what he had just done.

Well, he wasn't there where everything happened, so Wendy really couldn't blame him. Heck, the first time she was here, her friends' original idea was to do that exact same thing.

However, she still remembered what happened _after _one of them laid in the body outline.

How could she forget? None of them did; for God's sake, one of them became a hotdog. A HOTDOG! It's not necessarily the easiest thing to forget. Wendy was pretty sure that Thompson, one of her friends, got a permeant fear of ghosts after that; he even once mistook Mabel in a bed sheet as a ghost! And, needless to say, none of them had watched a ghost movie the same way again.

Still, until today, she thought that was in the past.

As the ghostly blue light grew brighter, she exclaimed, "Soos, get out of there!"

The man-child tried to lift his arms, but to no avail. "I can't!" Soos replied. "I'm stuck!"

Wendy attempted to get close to him, but Robbie called her name before grabbing the back of her shirt, pulling her behind one of the aisles. She was about to protest when a blinding white light barely missed the bottom of her left boot, scorching it.

Robbie practically dragged Wendy by the wrist to the entrance. "We need to get out of here!" He exclaimed.

Before she could reply, the glass doors of the store snapped shut. Robbie let go of Wendy and attempted to open the door.

"Locked?!" Robbie realized. He tried to open it again as Wendy tapped his shoulder. "Wendy, not now, I'm-." He turned around, soon seeing why she got his attention. Soos, a vague blue-ish aura around him with his pupils vanished, floated above them a few aisles off.

"WELCOME, TO YOUR DOOM!" He announced in a big, booming voice. The possessed man laughed as he attempted to hit the two of them with some ray from his hand. Robbie, in some sort of trance, snapped out of it as soon as Wendy nearly tackled him to get the two of them out of the way. They took refuge behind some stale chips as the poltergeist vanished, along with Soos' body. Robbie looked around the corner on one part of the aisle.

"I think we should be safe," he said, slightly panting. Wendy looked up from her hiding spot as she thought of something: what was on the aisle across from them again? She looked behind her; it was full of safety scissors, staplers, and freshly sharpened pencils, the tagline reading "they're so sharp they could break through skin!"

And they were beginning to move…

_Seriously?! _Wendy thought as she shoved Robbie out, the two of them only barely missing being impaled by the world's sharpest pencils. The two of them were beginning to run away when "Soos" reappeared, picking up one of the now destroyed bags of chips, causing some of the contents to spill out.

"REALLY? THIS BAG OF CHIPS COSTS TEN DOLLARS ALONE! TEN DOLLARS! YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" The ghost complained, tossing the bag of chips aside. He soon gave chase to the two teens, who managed to avoid him by hiding behind huge bags of dog food. Wendy and Robbie got out of their hiding spots, only for Robbie to notice something off.

"Hey, is it just me, or does something feel different?" He asked Wendy.

She looked around. "Yeah, but I don't know why…" She replied, soon looking down, causing her eyes to go wide. "Robbie…"

"It's weird, I know this place is the same, but it just feels different."

"Robbie…"

"I dunno, maybe the ghost changed the-."

"ROBBIE!"

Robbie looked beside him, to discover that she was bothering him about. Their feet had completely left the floor. At most, there would have gone up roughly…an inch, maybe two? No matter how high up they were up, they were still floating in the air. Unless both of them simultaneously gained flying powers (which could honestly be a good explanation, considering everything else that's happened today), it could only mean one thing…

Speak of the Devil; Robbie saw the apparition, now beginning to extend his hand. "Look out!" he exclaimed, pushing Wendy out of the way. Not a moment too soon, as the beam that shot out of his hand barely passed the two, causing the display of Smile Dip it actually hit to explode, covering the two of them in the candy. Wendy took a bit off her cheek and tried it.

"Hm. It's not half bad." Wendy remarked. "I wonder why it got banned…"

Before she could get some more off her face, she, along with everything else, got quickly forced up to the ceiling. The teenager was nearly crushed by the Ice freezer, and was hit with several smaller objects as she ran across the ceiling. "Soos", all the while, was trying to destroy Wendy, though occasionally complaining when a piece of merchandise was destroyed ("THOSE LITTLE PANDA PENS WERE THREE NINETY-NINE A PIECE! AND, COME ON, THEY WERE SO CUTE!").

Wendy was beginning to wear down when her ankle was pulled into a tight corner. She turned to discover Robbie, and she practically ripped her ankle out of his grip as he let go.

"What are we gonna do?!" Robbie whispered; the dude was practically shaking. "I haven't seen a single bat around here!"

"A bat? What's a bat-?" Wendy began, only to remember what she had said to cover Dipper the first time she went here. She did mention something about a bat, didn't she? "Oh, well…" Wendy was thinking of a way to get out of this mess, and only one thing came to mind. She blushed.

"…What?" Robbie said; Wendy sighed.

"There is another way to get rid of the ghost." She explained. Then, to Robbie's dismay, she stood up and walked towards the apparition.

"Wendy! What are you doing?!" Robbie demanded. "Soos" was making some random objects spin in the air when Wendy took a deep breath.

"Hey, Pa, was it?" Wendy shouted above the new whirlwind in the room. "Soos" turned his head a full 180o to Wendy. He raised his hand, as if he was about to destroy the teen, when she quickly told him, "I know the Lamby-Lamby Dance!"

The spirit put down his hand. "THE WHAT?" He asked.

Wendy blushed harder than before. "That funny little dance Dipper did to appease you? I…I know it." She replied. "So I have a deal for you."

"Soos" put his hand on his chin. "GO ON…"

Wendy walked closer to the ghost. "Okay, if I do the Lamby-Lamby dance, then you have to let us go."

He thought for a moment. "I DON'T KNOW…"

"_Make her do it!_" Another voice suddenly chimed. This ghost looked friendlier then the other, floating over to the man. She looked like she was an overweight senior citizen, wearing a shirt, jacket, skirt, and glasses, the whole color scheme being white and blue. Her white hair went to her shoulders, and a small brooch was on her shirt. A name tag on her jacket read "Ma".

"_Ma!_" Pa said in a drastically different voice, coming out of Soos' body, flying over to the old woman. The man-child was unconscious as Pa hugged Ma. Pa wasn't that much different than Ma was in his true form, also being an overweight senior citizen, his own color scheme being white and blue. He had a white comb over, wore an apron and a shirt, as well as glasses. His own name tag on his right side read "Pa". "_What are you doing here? I thought you were back at the Dusk 2 Dawn!"_

"_I was._" Ma said, coming out of the hug, but still holding her husband. "_But I was just looking through some old photo albums one minute, and now I'm here!_" She looked at Wendy. "_Just in time, it seems! Come on, Pa, have her do that funny little dance!"_

"_But… Sweetie…"_

"_I know, I know, I hate teenagers as much as you do! But we need them to get to the center of the woods, remember? Not to mention, we both love that little dance, and I haven't seen you enjoy yourself that much in years!"_

"_Well… Alright,"_ Pa said, putting his arm around his wife, "_If only for you, Honey-Bun._" The two shared an Eskimo kiss as Wendy reminded them, "Uh…I really don't have a Lamb costume on me, so…"

Before she could say anything else, Pa snapped his fingers and suddenly Wendy was in a Lamb costume. _So THIS is what Dipper felt like back then…_ Wendy thought, clearing her throat (her cheeks burning) as she began:

"_Well! Who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?_

_I do! I do!_

_So, go up and greet your mammy, mammy, mammy,_

_Hi there! Hi there!_

_So march, march, march around the daises,_

_Don't, don't, don't forget about the ba-bies!"_

She ended with a wink as Pa began to laugh.

"_That was some quality entertainment there!"_ He said, finishing his chuckle. _"You can all go free."_ The store door opened.

"Thank you." Wendy said, suddenly back in her real clothes. "You know, for a second I was really worried there-."

Before she could finish, Ma and Pa had already vanished. A few chips fell, and Wendy suddenly remembered how gravity worked. She was almost smashed headfirst into the ground as everything crashed back into the floor. Soos regained consciousness as Wendy, Robbie, and himself groaned, getting up.

"What'd I miss?" Soos inquired.

"Oh, nothing much," Wendy said. Soos accepted this as a viable answer as he asked, "So, where to next?"

"Hm… I think we should try to go to the center of these woods." Wendy replied, remembering Ma's words. "Who knows, there might be an exit or something."

"Sounds like a plan!" Soos smiled as he began walking out, opening up his half-crushed backpack. "Whoa, there's a ton of stuff in here! Food, water, a flashlight…"

He continued naming the contents of bag as Robbie went by Wendy, smiling.

"So, the 'Lamby-Lamby Dance', huh? Looks like 'Dr. Fun-Times' turned out to be…uh… 'Private'… 'Prissy-Pants'. Yeah, 'Private Prissy-Pants'!" Robbie said, only to get a side glare from Wendy.

Stan groaned.

Why, of all the places, of all the times, of basically _anything_, did Bill have to send Gideon and himself in the woods?! I mean, talk about uninspired! Bill was supposedly this big dream-demon, yet the best he could think up for the two of them was _the woods_?! I mean, just _being _in here made him remember…

Remember…

He shook his head. _You don't need that right now, Stan_. He thought. _All you have to do is worry about that punk Gideon, nothing more, nothing less._

"AH!" Gideon suddenly screamed. Stan panicked for a split second, turning around to expect a huge monster, or maybe Bill himself.

Instead, he just saw Waddles, sniffing a pinned Gideon on the ground.

"GET OFF ME, YOU DIRTY PIG!" Gideon attempted to swat the harmless thing away.

Stan briefly face palmed. "Kid, quit being a wuss." He bluntly said, taking Waddles off the small boy. "It's just Mabel's pig, Waddles."

"My darling Mabel owns…_that_?" Gideon looked horrified at the thought. "I thought it was just a stray that wouldn't leave!"

"Well…kind of…" Stan admitted, as he never really considered him a pet. "But, it makes her happy, so I tolerate it."

As Stan put Waddles on the ground, he noticed something odd. The pig's tracks seemed to have something…shiny in them…

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Waddles oinked. He looked up at the pig, staring straight into the animal's beady eyes. "Yes?" Stan said.

The pig blinked before hurrying down the dirt path they were on. He was about to turn around a bend when Waddles turned back to the two, squealing.

"What's it doing?" Gideon asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I don't know," Stan replied. "Follow it, maybe? Considering everything else today, I wouldn't put Bill past it."

Gideon shrugged as the two began to follow the pig.

_**Back at Cipher H.Q. (A/N: And yes, I'm officially calling it that now)…**_

"Six-Fingered Hand" was adjusting Stan's camera as Bill entered into the room, practically slamming the door open. He rushed to the monitor as the Man in the Chair asked, "Cipher, what's going on?"

"I'm detecting something wrong." He replied, scanning each and every camera feed.

"What do you mean by wrong?"

"I think something-or _someone_-is helping out the others."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know… It's…it's just a feeling."

"…'A feeling'? Cipher, I've known you for years now, and not once have I ever heard you say the words 'It's just a feeling.'"

"Oh, shut up, will you! I think there's-."

"Bill, relax. I've been watched these things all day, and nothing's gone wrong."

The demon looked uncertain a moment. Then, Bill sighed. "I suppose you're right; I'm just a bit paranoid, probably. Ooh, I should go and mess with the universe! That always cheers me up!"

Bill was beginning to leave, happier than before, when he heard "Six-Fingered Hand" hum something.

"What's that song?" Bill asked him.

"What song?" The Man in the Chair asked in return.

"That song you're humming… I swear I've heard it before."

"It's just some song I heard on the radio. I don't remember the name, though."

"Oh… Well then…"

As Cipher began to leave, he managed to hear a lyric from that "song on the radio":

"…_Who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?..."_


	15. Fireside Chats

**Chapter Fifteen: Fireside Chats**

**Nicole's POV**

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard Tyrone ask. I assumed he was talking to me, considering that Dipper had dozed off a while ago, so I replied, "Fine."

After becoming exhausted, the three of us decided to camp for the night. Dipper and I shared a bag of trail mix when we got hungry (Tyrone didn't want any), and we had all agreed to take shifts watching the camp, just in case one of the Dippers or another monster figured out where we were. Currently, I was taping my slightly bleeding arms with some bandages I found in my bag, and Tyrone seemed to want to keep as much distance between him and the small fire we made as possible (considering he was made of paper, I didn't blame him), drawing something in the dirt with a twig.

Once I finished up on my arms, I grabbed the vial of jackalope milk (which, miraculously, hadn't cracked) and opened it. I carefully had a few drops hit my broken ribs, which had a small burning sensation. But it apparently worked, as the dull throb my wound had reduced to ceased. I did the same thing to my right ankle, with similar results.

"What's that?" Tyrone asked, apparently looking up from his doodle.

"It's jackalope milk." I replied. I was slightly shocked to hear how calm my voice was, like this happened all the time. Then again, considering everything else today, I'm pretty sure _nothing _could surprise me anymore. "I got it awhile back. Apparently, it can heal any type of wound."

"Wow." Tyrone said. "You must you it a lot."

"Nope, today was the first time I opened the bottle."

"…You're kidding."

"I'm not."

Tyrone looked bewildered. "...Care to explain why?"

I held up the vial; it was halfway full. "This is all I have of it, and I didn't use more than five or six drops."

"Oh." Tyrone realized. He looked over to Dipper. "Maybe you could him a few drops. You know, because of his ankle and all."

"Are you kidding?" I told Tyrone. "He's the reason I'm in this mess! He was the one who gave me the llama necklace, and he was probably one of the people the Author warned about! For all I know, maybe Bill was _warning _me to stay away Dipper in Gravity Falls so I wouldn't get caught up in everything!"

"Really?" Tyrone crossed his arms as he sat up to look at me. "When has Bill _ever _given the impression that he'd like to help people?"

I thought for a moment. Tyrone did have a point there… "Well… Never, but-."

"And what's to say Bill didn't just conjure up that necklace for Dipper to find, like he did for this cave or the other clones?"

"It's very likely, but-!"

"And when has Dipper ever given the impression that he wanted to harm or destroy anyone?"

"The gnomes."

"…Okay, _besides _the gnomes."

I didn't answer this. I glanced towards Dipper's direction.

"He's a good guy, Nicole. Heck, I should know, I'm the guy's clone_._ So, at the very least, can you _try _not to hate him? After all, you're going to be in here a while."

I looked towards Tyrone to see he had laid down on the dirt, his back turned. I sat there in silence for a moment. Then, I held the vial in my slightly dirty hands.

Maybe there _was _enough to cure one last injury.

* * *

**No POV**

"Phineas, are you alright?" Mabel asked the red-head. They had also decided to settle down for the night. Mermando was in the river next to them as Phineas and Mabel created a small fire. Mabel had taken off her sweater, complaining it was too hot, to reveal a pink tank top underneath. It was only then when Phineas realized his fingers were fidgeting.

"Oh, that? It's nothing. Just a bit of a nervous tick, that's all." Phineas said. It was clear he was lying; the kid was tugging at his shirt collar.

Mermando yawned. "I should get to sleep. Though I don't know what to sleep on…"

"A bed!" Phineas suddenly exclaimed. "A bed's not too hard to build! I just need a screwdriver, a couple of pieces of wood-Mabel, didn't you say something about being good at arts and crafts?-!"

"Phineas, I love the fact that you share Mabel's enthusiasm, but I just use that rock over there." Mermando interrupted, pointing towards a nearby rock. Phineas blinked, realizing how worked up he was getting.

"A rock. Right. A rock can work." Phineas said. Mermando was swimming towards the rock as Mabel gave Phineas an _I-know-something's-wrong-so-just-tell-me_ look.

He sighed. "Sorry. It's just been so long since I've built something with Ferb. I… I might be a little antsy."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird not having Dipper and all his mystery-type-stuff around." Mabel put her hands on her chin.

"At least you've got Mermando. He seems nice enough." Phineas reminded her, taking out a photograph. "All I've got is a photo."

Curious, Mabel looked came by him at looked at his picture. It showed him wildly grinning, Ferb remaining pokerfaced, a disinterested Candace, Linda slightly smiling with Laurence's hand over her shoulder, even Perry got in the photo in mid-chatter. She couldn't help but notice that Laurence wore glasses, like the Flynn's symbol.

"It's a nice photo though." Mabel smiled, not wanting Phineas to feel bad. It was then, however, that Mabel noticed something else. "Who's the black-haired girl? She doesn't look anything like Nicole."

Indeed, someone else had gotten into the photo. She was roughly the height of Phineas; already a stark difference from Nicole, since she was roughly Ferb's height; had raven black hair, which was down and held by a pink bow; light tan skin; and wore a pink and white dress, a tan sash with many different patches on it, and pink shoes. She held her arms around Phineas' shoulders, also smiling big.

"Oh, that's Isabella. She's a friend of mine." Phineas said, smiling as if it brought back a good memory.

"Wait, is she your girlfriend?" Mabel asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well…I guess you could say that, yeah." Phineas replied, considering she's a girl and his friend.

Mabel, however, interpreted it in another way.

"Oh… I understand." Mabel turned her gaze downwards so Phineas couldn't see her disappointment. "I'm going to finish up putting stickers on my backpack." Mabel walked to her spot as Phineas smiled, still looking at the photo.

* * *

Wendy, Soos, and Robbie, after eating the gargantuan dinner consisting of beef jerky and stale crackers, were by their own fireplace. Soos was busy getting sticks for their fire, so Wendy and Robbie were alone. Robbie looked at Wendy, whom was poking the fire with a stick. He couldn't help but stare at the small cut on one of her cheeks and her long messy hair, most likely tangled beyond the use of a simple comb.

But he especially kept looking at her hands, still slightly roughed up.

Eventually, Robbie sighed. "Look, Wendy, I know what I did was wrong. I should have been a better boyfriend, listen to you more, and not try to brainwash you; you know, like a normal couple should. But I can change-."

"I know." Wendy said.

He stopped. "What?"

"I know you can change. I know you can be better, and I know you won't try to repeat your same mistakes. But I just can't trust you anymore. A huge part of a relationship is knowing and trusting one another; and, after I learned you were brainwashing me, I'm not sure I know _who _you are anymore, much less if I can trust you."

Robbie frowned at the memory at their break-up. "He has a crush on you, you know. Dipper, I mean. That's the reason why he broke us up."

Wendy smiled. "Yeah, I've already figured that one out. Quite a while ago, actually."

Robbie was surprised. "Then why haven't you told that twerp yet?"

She looked at him, dead in the eye. "Two reasons: One, I want him to know that we can't be together on his own. He's a friend of mine, not to mention three years younger than me, and I don't want to be the one that crushes his dreams. And two," She made sure to say this part carefully, so Robbie would understand with the upmost clarity: "unlike you, he did tell me that I was being used. So, at the very least, I know I can trust him."

Wendy turned back to the fire, jabbing at the log a bit harder now. Robbie fell silent, looking sadly at the ground. As if on cue, Soos got back, holding several logs. He saw the two teens sitting at a distance from one another.

_Why do I get the feeling I missed something again? _Soos thought. He then shrugged. _I'll ask later._

* * *

Stan, Gideon, and Waddles were deep into the woods, and sitting (get this) around a small campfire, settling down for the night. Waddles was fast asleep, gently kicking the air as Stan was saying, "…and, before the two teenagers realized what was about to happen, the Gremloblin appeared out of nowhere, punching them in the face!"

"Stanford, are you almost done? You've been telling the same story for the past two hours now." Gideon said, bored out of his mind.

"What? It was just about to get good!" Stan practically whined like a little kid.

"You're just going to say that the Gremloblin punched another person in the face that you hate. You've already covered half the town."

"Hey, he might eat someone! …Sometime…" Stan said. He put another log in the fire as Gideon winced, grabbing his right hand. "Did an ember hit you?"

"No…it's just been doing that for a while now." Gideon said. "I don't understand why; this hasn't happened before."

"It must be Bill."

"_Everything _seems to be Bill to you."

"I'm serious, kid. He might have given you a mark to get and keep you here; like maybe a dream including him or a hand design."

Gideon's eyes grew wide. He looked at his right hand; nothing was on it now, but earlier it had been glowing. It hadn't occurred to him before, but it was his right hand he used when he first met Bill, to seal the agreement. And there was that thing he said before he shook hands with him:

"_I'll help you with this and you can help me with something I've been working on!"_

"_Something I've been working on!"… _He couldn't have meant…

"…Kid?" Stan's voice got Gideon out of his thoughts.

"Say, there isn't anything to stop Bill from marking you, is there?" Gideon decided to change the subject.

"Hm. Well, there's one thing, if I remember correctly." Stan said. He proceeded to show a piece of a gold chain that he had around his neck. "Gold seems to be the guy's kryptonite." He placed it back under his collar.

"That's it? Gold?"

"Yeah. Don't ask me why, though, it's pretty random."

"…Okay." Gideon yawned. "I'm going to sleep. Mind watching the camp?"

"I've got nothing better to do." Stan remarked, but he wasn't sure he was heard; Gideon seemed to already be out like a light.

_Yeah… only one thing can keep him away. That should be good enough for him. _Stan thought, thinking back to a certain tattoo on his right shoulder, poking the fire once more.

* * *

_Stan's always been a good liar. _The Man behind the Chair thought, watching over the monitors. His own eyelids were being to droop. _No, you need to keep an eye on them. If you don't, Cipher will discover-._

His thoughts were interrupted by Bill, whom had entered the room once again. _Two times in one day? That's never good._

"What do you want, Cipher?" He asked, acting as if he were wide awake.

"You know, Six-Fingered Hand, I've been doing a bit of research on the layout of Operation: Cipher Wheel." Bill began. _Oh no._

"Yes? And?"

"Well, I noticed something interesting. You said that the only person who could control the rooms was me, right?"

"I designed that way, yes."

"Well…then this can't be right."

"…What do you mean?" _Don't goad him on! He'll figure out what you did!_

"It says here on the computer designs that there's an override code."

_Don't you answer-! _"Really?"

"Yeah. It apparently allows the user entrance into the mainframe. In there, they can design their own programs to interact with the participants, maybe even help them. And the weird part is, I'd never notice a difference! Strange, isn't it?"

"Very." _YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED! SHUT UP ALREADY!_

It was then the man felt a slight tingle on the back of his neck. He knew Bill was trying to read his thoughts, see if he could figure anything out. However, the tingle ceased as soon as it began, nothing seeming to happen.

"Well. You tell me when you want to switch monitoring the project." Bill was notably more displeased than before.

"Understood." The man coolly replied. Not once had his voice change throughout their conversation. Bill, with one last look at Six-Fingered Hand, left the room once more. As soon as he left, the Man behind the Chair scratched an itch near the tattoo on his right shoulder.

_Coffee. You're going to need lots of coffee for tonight._

_**A/N: Wow, I am really loving writing Six-Fingered Hand! It's funny, 'cause even I don't know who he is.**_


	16. Memories

_**A/N: I wanted just to comment on one of my recent reviews. To answer your question, no, there's not going to be a Dipper/Nicole thing going on. Dipper still has a crush on Wendy in this story, not to mention I find it'd be sort of weird. They're just going to remain… I wouldn't necessarily say "friends", considering everything they've gone through, but "mutually tolerating each other". With that out of the way, I hope you guys enjoy!**_

**Chapter Sixteen: Memories**

**Dipper's POV**

The first thing I noticed when I woke up is was that my ankle didn't hurt.

Confused, I sat up. Taking a closer look, it had seemingly healed overnight. I didn't even feel the dull throb I expected; it was like nothing had happened to it. When I looked around the camp, that's when I noticed something else: Nicole wasn't there. Instead, a trail of footprints leading down the cave was in her place. Curious, I followed them.

They lead me to a rather open cave. I couldn't see any light from the top, but I could see in the cave. There was a huge lake in the middle, most of the coast white and black dotted sand. And, in the middle of it all, was Nicole. Her back was faced towards me, and she didn't show any signs that she knew I was there. I was about to go back in the cave when I heard her say, "Dipper, can we talk? I mean, if it _is _Dipper I'm addressing."

I turned back and saw she was looking at me. "Yeah, it's me." I said, though I didn't get any closer. I mean, this _was _the same woman that has nearly gotten me killed a few times now.

"Look," she said, turning back to the water, "I know I haven't been the most…approachable of people. I don't really blame you for staying as far away from me as possible. But we might be in here for a while. Heck, we might…"

She stopped, not wanting to finish the sentence. I didn't blame her; I knew what she was going to say. It crossed my mind once or twice already.

"My point is," she continued, "it might be awhile before we see anyone else. So, could we just let bygones be bygones?" I didn't reply. Like I said before, she _did_ nearly get me killed on more than one occasion. "Okay, can you at least trust me to get you out of here alive?"

I thought for a minute. There was no way I could trust her. Once again, SHE NEARLY GOT ME KILLED.

…But… she did have a point. There hadn't been any definite sign of escaping here… and Bill said nothing about there even _being_ an exit…

I sighed. "Fine," I replied. I looked off to the side to find her backpack, still opened. Inside, a red book was still poking out.

"You still have this?" I asked, taking out the first Journal. She turned around to see what I was talking about.

"Yeah," she answered. "It's why I'm here to begin with. Apparently, if you let your feet soak in cave water for twenty minutes, it'll prevent major injuries to your feet."

I snickered. "Okay, now you're just messing with me. There's no way-."

"Page fifty-two," she said. My smile went away as I opened to the page she said. It read:

_Today, I nearly drowned in the lake near Scuttlebutt Island (I was there for different reasons). However, I was saved by the small water sprites living within the water. (Note: Do not approach these creatures if you can. They quickly become ravenous. I still have enough teeth marks on my skin to make it a bit of a hindrance.) Before I left (and found out of their taste for human flesh), they told me of an old practice in which water sprites will help prevent injury to a certain part of your body. When your skin begins to wrinkle, it'll be the sign that the ritual is done, so keep still for about ten minutes (and I do mean still; that's the only way the sprites can't try to eat you. Disrupting the process with cost you both the protection and that limb)_

"…Wow."

"I told you."

I put back up the book before I noticed something else in the bag. Taking it out, I found it was a picture of a family. There was a little boy in the front, with black hair, brown eyes, and darkly tanned skin. He wore a dark blue t-shirt, tan khakis, and black shoes. His wide smile was contrasted by the father's rather stern looking face. He had lightly tanned skin, black hair and five o'clock shadow, and dark green eyes. He wore a pair of black combat boots under tan pants, a white t-shirt, a green version of my vest, and a pair of dog tags. The mother, having a small smile, shared a striking resemblance to Nicole: long black hair in a ponytail, darkly tanned skin. The only difference appearance wise was her baby blue eyes and her outfit: a one sleeved purple dress, a black belt, and black heels. In the photo, she was pregnant.

"What are you looking at?" Nicole said, scaring me half to death. She was right next to me, barefooted. Grabbing the photo, she took a look at it. Her eyes softened, as if remembering something. They turned back to normal as Nicole shoved it into her pocket. "Come on, let's get back to the camp."

She got the backpack and began walking to her shoes.

"Nicole…" I began, knowing I was about to tread on some dangerous ground about that photo.

"It was taken a long time ago." She told me, as if reading my mind. "Those people in there don't exist anymore."

There was a brief moment of silence. "Who were they, then?" I asked.

Another brief silence occurred. Nicole took in a breath of air, trying to seem calm, but I could hear it was shaky.

"They were my family."

* * *

**No POV**

"Mabel, you seem down. Is everything okay?"

Mabel looked to her left and saw Mermando, swimming below her feet, a look of concern on his face.

"Don't worry, Mermando, everything's fine." Mabel said, faking a smile. She never liked to lie, but in this case, it was necessary. Mabel never wanted to _be _in another situation where it was necessary, yet here she was. Stuck between a former (or maybe current; Mabel made a mental note to ask if Mermando had any mermaids he had his eye on) flame and her current crush, after realizing he was already in a relationship with a girl back in Danville. What did _she _have that Mabel didn't, anyway? Aside from the triangular headed boy, anyway.

Speaking of which, that simple finger twitch Phineas had last night evolved into a full body tremble. In all honesty, Mabel thought he was beginning to go a little nutty. _But he looks so cute when he's crazy! _Mabel smiled, though it got back to a frown when she remembered Phineas' girlfriend. Let's see… well, she had black hair. Maybe if she dyed her hair she could get Phineas' attention? No, that probably wasn't it. Nicole had black hair and they didn't seem to have any romantic tension between them. Okay…pink! She only wore pink in the photo. More pink then?

Just as Mabel was formulating a sweater that was purely nothing but pink, Mermando once more snapped her out of her thoughts: "Hey, that sticker in the corner looks a lot like a puffer fish I know."

Mabel looked on the back of her backpack. Amongst all the rainbows, glitter, unicorns, motivational ("Hang in there, Kitty!"), and other random girly stickers, she saw the one that the merman pointed out. "Oh, do you want it?" She asked, prepared to give him the holographical sticker. "If you move it back and forth, it looks like its breathing bubbles!"

"It's fine." Mermando replied. "I don't care much for Toby; he still owes me money. He keeps _saying _he paid off his debt, but he's a total liar! I won those three hundred sand dollars fair and square, but _no, _he's just too cheap! Why I oughta…!"

"Soooo, Phineas," Mabel interrupted, before Mermando could continue his rant. "You haven't said much."

"Hm?" Phineas said, seeming to come out of some sort of trance. "Oh, sorry. I've just been thinking about some stuff. You know, back in Danville."

"You know, you've hardly mentioned anything about Danville." Mabel commented. "What do you even do over there? What's your life like? Got any friends?" _What about your girlfriend? Are you guys in a rough patch? If you are, you should TOTALLY move on from her! Maybe even go out with, I don't know, someone right next to you!_

Phineas grinned. "Danville's the best place in the world! Gravity Falls is pretty cool, too, but nothing can compete with Danville. I actually build things over there, you know, with Ferb and a few of our friends. I remember this one time where we built a town-spanning rollercoaster! And another where we went to the moon! And another where we became one-hit wonders! Maybe you've heard of us? We called ourselves 'Phineas and the Ferb-Tones'."

"Oh! You mean 'Gitchee Gitchee Goo'? I love that song! So did Dipper, but he'll never admit it." Mabel said, remembering when her brother kept singing it in the shower. Grunkle Stan had the best timing sometimes…

"Yeah! And that's only a few things we've done!" Phineas continued on, Mabel and Mermando listening to each of the boy's notable exploits.

* * *

Robbie, Wendy, and Soos were once more treading along in the woods. Asides from being thirsty, fighting not to go to sleep, and hungry, it had started to rain.

If you can't already tell, this hasn't been one of their better days.

While Wendy was in the front, hacking away at branches at branches with a hand axe (she apparently brought it with her everywhere since she used to participate in lumberjack games with her dad), Robbie and Soos were walking in the back.

"So what happened last night when I left?" Soos casually asked, using his arms as an expansion of his hat for the rain.

"Nothing," Robbie replied, grumpier than usual; his hoodie was soggy from the rain pouring down.

"Dude, I could feel the tension last night." Soos commented. "I mean, I remember this one time my Abuelita and I were camping, and I had a nightmare about this British Dog Man, but apparently I was making a lot of noise so Abuelita woke me up, but for a split second I thought _she _was the British Dog Man, so I-."

"Soos, do you _mind _not talking about your Grandmother for five minutes?" Robbie growled, taking Soos back.

"Whoa, don't need to be so territorial, dude." He told him. Robbie blinked a few times.

"I-I'm sorry. I've just been thinking a lot about Wendy and I getting back together, and with last night and all…"

"It's okay." A small silence. "Say, how'dyou two meet? I've never heard the story."

Robbie smiled, giving a small chuckle at the thought. "It was back when we were kids. I pulled her pig tails one day, though why I did I forgot, and she punched me in the face. After that, we made up and became friends."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know."

It was only a brief moment before Soos began, "Okay, so I was woken up from my sleep, right? My Abuelita scared me so badly that I accidently screamed, 'Get away from me, you British Dog Man!' But then she said-."

Robbie frowned as Soos continued on, not wanting to hear the rest of the story about Abuelita and some dog-thing he kept on mentioning.

* * *

"Ugh, I swear to God this pig is making us go around in circles!" Gideon complained. Not only was it getting abnormally hot, but he was starving and possible dehydrated, and Stan insisted they kept on following Waddles. "Really, how many times have we past that oak tree? We keep constantly passing that one oak tree!"

"Kid, it's a forest." Stan remarked. "There are oak trees everywhere."

"I know that, but it's always the same pattern! Oak, pine, oak, pine, two oaks, three pines, a bush, maybe a flower, rinse and repeat."

Stan looked around. For once, Gideon had a point. Their surroundings _did _start to seem awfully familiar. It did start to go in a pattern. Oak, pine…

Before he could begin to figure out what this meant, Waddles went by a little thing of grass and ate one of the daffodils. Behind it was a rock with strange writings on it, like some unknown language. Stan slightly smiled.

"…What? It's just some old rock." Gideon said, noticing what the man was looking at. _Or, at the very least, a blunt object I could use against Bill…or on the pig…Stanford might be on to something…_

"Nothing," Stan said, smile vanishing, getting up from his knees. "Just remembering something, that's all."

"Oh no, you're not going to go on about your youth and how 'kids these days don't know the struggles I went through', are you?" Gideon dreaded the thought.

Stan glared at him. Waddles once more oinked to get their attention before going down the seemingly never-ending road.

"Come on, we need to follow the pig." Stan told Gideon, to which the "psychic" groaned in response.

* * *

"_Hurry up, you're gonna miss it!" A young Stanford Pines shouted to his friend. The kid, maybe around twelve or so, looked rather wimpy, with freckles across his face. Thick black-framed glasses and a red t-shirt with blue jeans, with the added bonus of a few pimples beginning to form, added to his already nerdish feel. His friend panted, struggling to keep up. The other young kid, who's known to us as Six-Fingered Hand, shouted back, "Stan, slow down! You know I can't run as fast as you!"_

"_I know, but this is amazing!" Stan continued on. A minute passed before the two of them reached their destination. Six-Fingered Hand wheezed, not having run so hard in his life._

"_Are you ready? It's almost time!" Stan was clearly excited. Honestly, in all the years he's known him, Six-Fingered Hand never saw him as happy as he was that evening._

"_Hold on, let me make sure I don't die from lack of air first." The other complained, to which Stan slightly laughed. He softly punched his friend in the arm as Six-Fingered Hand smiled himself._

"_Oh, shut it, will you?" Stan said. He checked his watch and grinned widely. "It's time!"_

_Stan kneeled down right next to a small little patch of grass and such. The other did the same; his knees were immediately greeted with a small prick. He winced, though did nothing more. He always hated those grey shorts anyway; at least he now had a reason for wearing jeans the next time he could._

_When Stan opened up the grass a little bit, Six-Fingered Hand gasped. The grey rock had been filled with small little sprites. They were brightly yellow, and seemed to be celebrating something._

"_Whoa." Six-Fingered Hand said, holding the opening while Stan stood up. "What are they?"_

"'_Woodland Sprites,'" Stan began. "'Though not as deadly as their water brethren, they are extremely hard to find. I only managed to stumble upon them by accident. The dance they are preforming is apparently another ritual. This time, the visitor's eyesight is extremely improved, down to the point where even miniscule details become huge parts of the scenery. However, after five minutes from the sunset, the creatures vanished abruptly. More study is needed to understand why.'"_

_Six-Fingered Hand nearly groaned, turning away from the dancing sprites. "Oh, is this from your Voodoo-medicine book again?"_

"'_Voodoo-medicine book'? You love seeing these things as much as I do!"_

"_Yes, but you won't shut up about that thing! It's starting to get annoying."_

"_A mysterious book with an unnamed author? Mythical creatures all around a fairly ordinary town? How could I NOT talk about this?!"_

"_Look, Stan, I know this is all exciting for you, but can we just-?"_

"_A tour business!"_

"…_What?"_

"_Everyone should be hearing about this! So why not start a touring business? We can gather some kids, have a twenty-five cent admission…it'd be something to do!"_

_The man (boy, rather) thought a moment. "Well…"_

"_Ooh, we can call it the Mystery Tour! Headed by the mysterious Mr. Mystery!" Stan put special emphasis on the 'Mr. Mystery' part, making it sound like a cheesy horror movie. Six-Fingered Hand laughed. He always remembered Stan loved big, important titles, most of which were self-named. "We could trick out the golf cart, maybe I could steal Dad's old eye patch…"_

_As Stan continued on naming various ideas, the two boys began to head back. It was then, however, that Six-Fingered Hand noticed something: there seemed to be a silhouette of someone in the woods. It sorta looked like Bill, with it's triangle-like figure and all. It was an amusing little detail at first…_

_But then Six-Fingered Hand realized something._

_How did he begin thinking about this in the first place?_

_Well, Stan had seemed to remember the rock, he had begun to remember that day, and then…and then…_

_HE HAD FALLEN ASLEEP!_

The Man behind the Chair jerked awake in that moment to realize he was in a broom closet. Bill must have put him there after making him begin his dream. He tried to open the door.

Locked. Of course it was locked.

Knocking over the mop, he looked through the key hole. On the other side, Bill, surrounded by empty cups of coffee, was in the chair he had recently occupied. His usual yellow was replaced with fiery red. He must have known Six-Fingered Hand was awake, because his eyes glanced to the side where the broom closest he was trapped in was. Then, the demon began to laugh evilly, his eye once more looking at the monitors. Six-Fingered Hand realized he was already too late.

Bill Cipher was already being to create new monsters.


	17. Chaos Ensues: Part 1

_**A/N: Hi everyone! I am REALLY sorry for not posting yesterday. Things got complicated, and I just couldn't do it.**_

_**Also, another two-part! Because **_**WAY **_**too much is going to happen to fill one chapter. I'm even considering making it a three-part…**_

_**But enough of my filler. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter Seventeen: Chaos Ensues: Part 1**

**No POV**

Bill was having himself a ball.

Now that he was in control, he couldn't help but think of all the ways he could torment the unwilling subjects for Operation: Cipher Wheel, for both revenge on Six-Fingered Hand _and _his own personal gain.

Life was good for Bill.

Unfortunately, the Man behind the Chair (though I suppose you could now call him "The Man inside the Locked Closet") was beginning to be a nuisance.

"_When I get out of here, Cipher, I'll rip your eye out!" _Six-Fingered Hand shouted, slightly muffled by the door, trying to bang it down with pure strength.

"Ha!" Cipher laughed. "I'd love to see you _try_, Grandpa!"

Six-Fingered Hand paused a moment. Yes, it was true that he was old; around Stan's age, actually; and his wrinkled hands were becoming sad to look at.

Still, he couldn't give up. There were people inside of there. If he didn't help them…

…Who would?

Six-Fingered Hand was soon looking for another way out.

* * *

Tyrone shook his head as he sat up. That must have been the worst sleep he'd had all his life.

…All the day and a few hours of his life, now that he thought about it.

Yeah, there was still the matter of that, wasn't there? He looked on his wrist. It was very faint, but it read "#00618". It was sorta depressing, really; he wasn't even the real Tyrone, and Tyrone was already a copy of Dipper! No, the real Tyrone _had _disintegrated on the roof; he's been gone for a long time. Then how was he possible?

Simple: the clones. Bill created hundreds, _thousands_, of those clones, like they were a part of a factory. Nicole had only seen a few compared to what Tyrone saw. He was supposed to be like everyone else, with a simple goal: confuse the Native American preteen, possibly get incinerated, and kill Dipper and Nicole when she failed.

But something had gone wrong with him. Instead of getting the orders like everyone else, he got something else:

"_Get Nicole alone. Tell her about the bucket in her bag and your water weakness, and wait in a nearby cave for her. When the two of them join you, lead them safely to the rendezvous point. If they ask what's going on, make an excuse. But whatever happens, just keep them alive."_

Tyrone got the hat so the two could know he wasn't a threat. That stuff he said about Dipper to Nicole wasn't his words; he was just the mouthpiece to a microphone. He didn't know who was speaking on the other end, or who hijacked the process to begin with. All he knew was to follow the orders he was given. Tyrone supposed he was lucky; at least he _didn't _get incinerated with a touch, or drenched with water. But somehow, he felt…

Empty.

What was he going to do when he was done? His Creator was most likely going to destroy any evidence he existed, maybe even Tyrone himself.

_Stop calling yourself Tyrone! _He thought. _You're not him! You're…_

_You're someone else. You don't know who you are, but it's not him._

He sighed, rubbing his temples. All this questioning about his true self-worth was being to hurt his head.

"Tyrone?" He heard someone ask. He looked up to see it was Dipper. "Are you alright, man?"

"I'm fine." He responded, standing up. He might be questioning the true meaning of his existence, but he still had a job to do. "We better get a move on, though." He looked around. "Where's Nicole?"

"Down the cave, waiting for us," Dipper told him. Tyrone was about to go when Dipper grabbed his arm. "Uh… You _might _want to be a little careful. I think I might have crossed a bad line."

Tyrone glared at him. It was a miracle that the hijacker got through the first time; now he was going to have to do it _again?_

Remembering the hijacker, another thought occurred to Tyrone: for the whole time the intruder was online, there was a small buzzing at the back of his neck, like a warning of a break in of the system. Now, it had vanished.

Was something wrong?

Before he could think anymore, he heard Dipper say, "Aren't you coming?" It was then he realized that he hadn't moved from his spot.

"Yeah," Tyrone said, beginning to move. "Just thinking about something, that's all."

Though Dipper looked puzzled, he moved forward without a single question. _The answer will just confuse me more,_ Dipper resolved.

As the two of them entered the cave, Tyrone almost immediately got a bad feeling. How bad? Try hair standing on the back of your neck bad. Yet, he didn't know where it was coming from…

Nicole, seeing the two coming, stood up from the rock she was sitting on. She still looked pretty upset from something, but she clearly wasn't saying what.

As soon as the two boys were standing in the middle of the cave, Tyrone felt something like a sharp prick in the back of his neck, causing his head to turn.

"We've wasted enough time," Nicole began to say. "Let's just-."

"LOOK OUT!" Tyrone shouted, knocking the two out of the way of a giant, black fist.

* * *

Bill got up from a few boxes, unscathed. Six-Fingered Hand had gotten out, seeming to finish typing a command. The man half expected for Cipher to yell, "HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?!" (To which he'd reply sarcastically, "Because of the key you left in there." It would be both right and wrong; he used a bobby pin Bill had left). On the other hand, he expected Bill to make some "coming out of the closet" jokes ("I knew it all along!"), before a death threat, of course ("…But I'm killing you anyway!")

Instead, Bill just laughed again. "Oh, silly Six-Fingered Hand," he said.

The man turned his head to barely dodge a blue energy strike.

"Is that the best you've got?"

* * *

Mabel, Phineas, and Mermando were still going down the river. Phineas had finished all his stories a while ago, and now Mabel was getting a bit bored.

"Ugh, how LONG is this thing?!" Mabel said. (Yeah…she's surprisingly not the most subtle of people.)

"You're telling me." Mermando also complained; he was panting like a dog. "I've been swimming *pant* nonstop *pant* for who knows how long. What *pant* about you, Phine-?"

Mermando stopped midway when he saw Phineas. The dude was a wreck. That full body twitch was now gone; he was probably _certifiable _by now! Turning his head at every little noise, somehow regaining the eye-twitch, drumming with his fingers, and looking something like an insane serial killer from a horror movie.

…_What an odd kid…_ Mermando thought, turning his head awkwardly away. _It's lucky that Mabel seems to like him, because if she didn't, I probably would have abandoned him a while back._

Mermando had a small smile at the thought of Mabel. What a sweet girl…

He soon gained a frown. _What a lucky guy Mermando was._

Yep, like before, this wasn't the real Mermando, only a copy. How was he created? He didn't know. All he knew was his purpose: get Mabel and Phineas to the rendezvous point safely.

Yet he also questioned what he was going to do when the two got from Point A to Point B. However, it wasn't if he would live or die; it was purely about Mabel. How would she react to figure out he wasn't Mermando? Would she hate him? Grow to like him, if at all? Mabel, Mabel, Mabel; she became his only thoughts!

"Mermando?" a voice spoke up; it was Mabel's. "You're falling behind."

The merman snapped out of his thoughts. She was right; he _was _beginning to slow down a bit. He quickly picked up speed. "Hey, we can stop if you want." Mabel's face was one of concern. She looked at Phineas for a moment. _We might all need a break, actually…_

"No, do not worry about me, Mabel." Mermando wore a fake smile. "I am fine."

She was about to say something else, most likely to spark a bit of a disagreement, when she heard something.

"Did anyone else hear that, or was it just me?" Phineas asked, his eyes flickering around.

"No, I heard it too." Mabel replied. She looked at Mermando and he nodded, as he had heard it too. It was a very distinct _plop_, like a rock falling in water.

They stood still a moment before it happened again, this time closer: _plop._

Again. _Plop._

Again. _Plop._

Every time it happened, it grew louder. _PLOP._

Mabel realized what was going on before anyone else. "MERMANDO, GET AWAY FROM THERE!" She yelled, but to no avail.

Mermando was struck by a big rock, just at the tip of his tail.

He shouted, which somehow seemed to bring Phineas out of his trance. He looked around: Mabel was frantic, Mermando was trying to escape, and his tail was bleeding golden…spirals, if he was correct. Before Phineas could look closer, he heard another distinct sound:

A rock breaking.

And it was right above them.

Without thinking, Phineas tackled Mabel out of the way before a big, purple rock could crush them. Mermando's head was nearly crushed, but he managed to go out of the way and escape woundless.

But the next thing all of them heard chilled them right to the bone:

"_Knock, Knock."_

* * *

"Yes!" Bill cheered, looking at his work with Phineas, Mabel, and Mermando's screen. His arms were in the air in a joyous fashion. "Score one for Cipher!"

Six-Fingered Hand (after getting up from a particularly powerful attack, bleeding,) screamed, "RIGHT HOOK!" before punching the Dorito-shaped monster in the gut with his right fist.

* * *

Wendy wiped the sweat and rain off her brow. The rain was gone, but about everything else wrong with them remained. Soos and Robbie seemed to not take a particular liking to one another, and she was starting to get really tired. She began to wonder why she was doing any of this to begin with.

Then what Ma said came back: _"We need them to the center of the woods, remember?"_

_A hunch, _Wendy scowled. _I had to do all this on a hunch._

Still, it was better than nothing, she supposed.

Before she could get mad over resolving her thoughts on yet _another _hunch, Robbie said the three words everyone wanted to hear:

"Look, there's water!"

Soos and Wendy looked, and indeed, there was a huge lake. The sun was finally shinning, the water looked fresh, and there was nothing there. The three of them smiled in unison as they scrambled over to the lake. They filled their canteens, drank straight from the water, and Wendy even started a splash fight. The three seemed to actually be enjoying themselves.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, when everything calmed down, that Soos noticed something.

"Does anyone else see that giant bird-thing that's getting closer towards us?"

Wendy and Robbie glanced up. They noticed a few things about the "bird-thing" quickly. Firstly, it was huge. Secondly, it had a blue-pink appearance, and spaced yellow eyes. And finally, it wasn't a "bird-thing" at all.

It was a Pterodactyl.

And it was getting awfully close…

Before anyone could realize what was going on, something caused them to slip into the lake, just barely missing the pterodactyl's claws from snatching them. But when they came up, their problem wasn't over yet.

The dinosaur was just turning around, about to fly back.

* * *

"Yeah, score one for Six-Fingered Hand!" The Man Currently Fighting Mano-A-Mano with a Dream Demon exclaimed, Bill Cipher under his foot. "…I think… Maybe… I'm calling this a win for me."

Bill blasted his face with blue energy again, knocking the man back.

* * *

"ARE WE GOING TO FOLLOW THIS THING FOREVER?!" Gideon exclaimed; he was at his wit's end with Waddles. "ARE WE JUST CURSED TO FOLLOW THIS THING UNTIL WE DIE?!" He glanced over at Stan, whom had taken off his jacket with all the heat. "Well… Maybe just until _you _die…"

Stan glared at the kid. They were getting into the ten billion argument they've had…I dunno, today?...while Waddles still walked down the dirt road. In each of his footsteps, if Stan would ever bother to notice, were golden squiggles, dancing around.

If you haven't already noticed, Waddles is not Waddles; he is but another copy (a shocking revelation, I know). And you know what? Gideon was right; Waddles _was _just leading them in circles. That's what he was programmed to do: go in circles until Stan finally realized what was going on. He was a smart guy, after all; even Bill knew that. But, so far, it hadn't been going well. Even the pig was growing bored.

It seemed like this was going to take a while before Waddles suddenly froze. Grunkle Stan and Gideon stopped as well.

"Waddles?" Stan asked, as if he was going to get an answer.

The pig's legs sporadically gave out. Collapsing to the dirt, Stan attempted to reach the pig, but was stopped by its ear-splitting squeal, as if it were in some huge pain.

Little did the two know, but somewhere else, both Tyrone and Mermando were doing the same thing. And no one knew what Six-Fingered Hand exclaimed after it began:

"What did you do?!"


	18. Chaos Ensues: Part 2

_**A/N: …And I'm back on schedule! Woo! Alright, so I did decide this was going to be a three-part. It's just going to fit better that way. But, either way, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Eighteen: Chaos Ensues: Part 2**

**No POV**

Nicole coughed, a few clouds of dust coming up as a result. She stood up, shaking her head; a few pieces of rubble fell out as a result.

It took her a minute to sort out her surroundings. Half the cave seemed to have crumbled, Tyrone was in the middle of some spasmodic attack (she didn't check on him, though, as it could have easily been a trick), and Dipper…

Well… She was standing on Dipper's hand.

She quickly took her foot off his hand and helped him up. Dipper also shook his head as Nicole asked, "You okay?"

"Fine," Dipper replied. "You?"

"Greatly confused…but alright."

Dipper looked up to see a giant. It was a miracle the beast was able to stand up in the cave, even greatly hunched over. It was also really, really…_really_…muscular; as in, Dipper and Nicole were probably the weight and size of dust to him. It was black as the night, the only color on its body being green grass patches on his shoulders. The grey…skirt, maybe a loincloth?...was as big as a tarp. There was a long, red scar on his chest, almost as red as his glowing eyes. His two horns were white, one dulled and the other broken. Dipper recognized him almost immediately.

"Leaderaur," he whispered in shock.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised you two know each other." Nicole remarked.

Before Dipper could get in a retort, Leaderaur took in a deep intake of air. Dipper realized was about to happen and shoved Nicole out of the way. Two seconds later, a river's worth of orange and red fire engulfed the ground where they once stood. The two went behind a boulder's worth of fallen ceiling as they felt their backs scream in agony, feeling charred clothing against the rough terrain of rock. At most, they winced, but neither screamed.

Nicole's head turned around, her eyes scanning the monster, trying to see where his minuscule prey head. She fished around in her pocket, not taking her glance off the monster. When she finish, Dipper saw what she pulled out: a golden protector and a silver-colored pencil. At first, he was surprised.

The expression quickly turned to anger.

"You've had those the whole time and you _never _thought of using them?!" Dipper whispered.

"Well, let's see," Nicole annoyingly replied. "So far I've seen a demon it probably wouldn't have affected; you; clones of you who were sent to confuse me on which one was actually you; and Tyrone, who, again, _is another freaking clone!_" With her glare, Dipper considered it best to stay silent. "Besides, you still have Journal 3, which is all about monsters, and I don't see you pulling it out."

"It wouldn't have anything helpful." He defended. "The most it has on Manotaurs is what they look like. Not a single weakness is listed."

Nicole's scowl seemed to deepen as the weapons extended to their former glory. She focused her aim on Leaderaur, raising the arrow towards his head. After a deep breath, the arrow was released, whizzing through the air.

It barely managed to cut the grass on his shoulder. Nicole slightly growled, mumbling something under her breath.

She grabbed another arrow and sent it flying. However, this one also managed to miss its mark, but this was because a rock suddenly came in front of it. Dipper said something that sounded like "How'd that rock get there?" but Nicole didn't hear it. She was too busy prepping another arrow. Once the last one was ready, Leaderaur was almost around the corner. _I've got one shot at this…_ she thought, taking in another deep breath. The arrow was launched.

This time, it hit its mark.

It was a bit of an overshot, but the arrow hit the creature's left shoulder. It didn't seem like it hurt it too badly, as the creature just flicked it off. But it now knew where the two were. Leaderaur released smoke from his nostrils as he stared at the two kids. Dipper was beginning to back up, but Nicole stood her ground. Soon, the creature was taking a deep breath, revealing his Adam 's apple. Nicole smirked as she quickly grabbed another arrow, firing it within moments.

The arrow lodged itself right in the middle of its throat.

"Yes!" Nicole cheered as Leaderaur grabbed his neck. She looked at Dipper with a wild gleam in her eyes. "Ha! And you were beginning to back up!"

"Yeah, because I still have some freaking common sense!" Dipper fired back.

"Oh right, because common sense will do you any good in here." Nicole sarcastically replied. Dipper looked behind her as she continued, "If anything, you should be _thanking _me for saving your life _yet again_, 'cause we'd probably be fried shish-kabobs right now if I hadn't-."

She was interrupted by Dipper's hand clamping over her wrist. He dragged her off to the side in a sprint as the two of them nearly were burned again.

Leaderaur hadn't been killed by that shot. Not even mortally wounded. The only thing that remained of that attack was an arrow, thrown off to the side, with green blood on the tip.

* * *

Mabel was seeing things.

She and Phineas were on the ground, looking up at a being that looked immensely tall. It was grey colored, with a small tinge of purple. His legs and arms were practically sticks as he descended the rock spiral, almost spider-like. His hat and outfit were some horrid mash-up of orange, brown, and grey. If that wasn't frightening enough, you should have seen his face: a yellow jack-o-lantern face mask, which was smiling. It had to some sort of illusion, right?

No.

This was all too real.

"I'm sorry," Phineas began, "but who are you?"

"_They call me the Summerween Trickster," _The creature said, its voice almost as chilling as its appearance.

"I'll explain later." Mabel told him, not wanting the red-head to make a fool of himself.

"_You know, it certainly has been a long time since I've eaten,"_ The Summerween Trickster began, coming towards them. _"It's like I've been starving since last Summerween."_

Mabel gulped. "Heh heh," she nervously began. "I suppose you wouldn't happen to like beef jerky?" Mabel pulled out a bag of the jerky, slightly sweating, the two children backing up.

"_Hm… Not today, unfortunately." _The Trickster stated. _"I was more thinking… a triangular-headed main course… with possibly a brunette a la carte, if you'd be so kind." _The Trickster attempted to snag the two, but Mabel and Phineas dodged and began to run.

As the chase began, Mermando began to panic. He was feeling faint, but he knew that Mabel and Phineas were in trouble. He attempted to pull himself out from under the rock, but to no avail; in fact, it might have made his situation worse than it already was.

Mermando looked around, desperate for something that could allow him to get loose. He then saw it by chance. A small flicker in the ground. It was brief, but long enough. It moved down the way towards the merman's tail. If he timed it right…

The flicker got closer and closer. Mermando waited until the last possible chance. He closely followed the flickering as it got under the boulder.

To many, it was only a brief second the flash appeared under the rock.

But for Mermando, it was long enough to get it free.

He thanked God for his good fortune as he swam around a bit. He winced; it hurt a lot and still bleeding, sure, but at least the tail was free.

Without a moment's hesitation, he swam to Mabel and Phineas' aid.

* * *

By the time they got out of the water, Soos, Robbie, and Wendy barely managed to duck as the Pterodactyl swooped down once again. Its claws managed to take off Wendy and Soos' perspective hats, but fortunately that was the extent of the damage. When they looked up, the Pterodactyl let out a screech, standing not too far near them.

"Dudes, stand in front of it!" Soos said.

"Why?" Wendy asked.

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I've actually seen this thing before." Soos began. "When I faced it, I stood in front of it, and because its eyes are too spread apart, it couldn't see me."

"Well, I can't think of anything else to do." Robbie shrugged. The three were soon off the ground, standing one behind another sideways. The creature turned to them and, once more, Soos' plan worked. The Pterodactyl was completely unaware of where they were. Its head turned slightly to each side as the three stood perfectly still. It seemed like the creature was about to fly away when Wendy suddenly yelped. The two men with her saw that the ground had seemingly vanished for a moment, causing Wendy to fall. But they had a bit of a problem:

It had reappeared, and Wendy was now chest-high in dirt.

Worst yet was that one of Wendy's arms got into the creature's line of sight. The Pterodactyl turned its head fully right to see that the three had never left. It was beginning to become airborne as Robbie and Soos struggled to get Wendy loose. Wendy looked up in fear as the dinosaur swooped down once more. Than something else unexpected happened:

The dirt vanished again, Soos and Robbie pulling full force.

The resulting fall caused them to be right in the line of the Pterodactyl. Once more, Wendy left unscathed, but Soos and Robbie weren't as fortunate. One of the dinosaur's claws came in contact with Soos' skin; one more inch back and it would have collided with his throat. Instead, Soos' face was completely scratched down the middle, from the chin to the head. Soos shouted in pain, falling back while covering his face. Wendy could see the bloody tip of his nose when she heard another scream, this time from Robbie. And it wasn't because of an injury.

Robbie's hoodie had snagged onto one of the dinosaur's claws, and he was quickly gaining altitude.

* * *

_I'm sleeping. _Gideon thought. _That's what it is. I just fell asleep and I'm now in some horrible nightmare. By the time I'll wake up, I'll be back in my cell and nothing would have happened._

But no, Gideon wasn't sleeping. This wasn't all some dream.

If it was, he wouldn't have had to hang on to dear life to the edge of a hole.

Once Waddles began squealing, everything turned to chaos. The sky was beginning to become a multicolored mess, the ground was rising and falling in random areas, and some items just began disappearing altogether. Stanford wasn't faring all-too well, either; the dude was hanging on for dear life on some roots that were quickly breaking.

Wait, why was he grabbing on roots?

Oh. The place had turned upside down. That's why.

Gideon grabbed on to the dirt even harder than he already was. Oh great, the time and effort he'd have to go through to clean them would be monstrous. Bill was _dead _the next time he saw him.

Stanford, on the other side of the spectrum, was quickly changing hands (and roots) while Gideon was silently cursing out Bill. Soon, Stan was right next to Waddles. He was about to insult the pig for getting them in this situation when he noticed something: Waddles wasn't holding on to anything. Well, he really couldn't; he was still violently convulsing.

So how wasn't it being pulled down? (Well, up, technically.)

Stan took a closer look at the creature's paws. They looked shiny, like they were recently polished. However, looking closer, he realized they were made of tiny gold squiggles. But that wasn't it; there was something else about the squiggles. They… They formed a message. Stan silently read it over.

He almost instantly paled.

"Oh my God," Stan whispered in disbelief. The phrase was in Latin: _"Fraternitatem Reminiscentis Omnium"._

"_The Brotherhood Remembers All"._

* * *

Six-Fingered Hand stared in disbelief at Cipher. He'd done it.

He'd actually done it.

Bill's face of triumph was clear at the text that appeared in the screen in front of him:

**SYSTEM DELETION INITIATED.**

**DELETING ALL PROGRAMS.**

"Are you INSANE, CIPHER?!" Six-Fingered Hand cried, rushing over to the monitoring system. "A system deletion?! You'll kill everyone inside!"

"I know!" The demon laughed; his voice was all-too cheery. "It'd ought to be fun to watch!"

Needless to say, the man was horrified. He attempted to stop the deletion when Bill levitated him, slamming him against the wall. A blue hex was casted, binding him to the wall. No matter how hard he tried, the old man couldn't get free. The demon was about to leave when Six-Fingered Hand shouted. "We had a deal, Cipher! If I created the system, you promised no one would get killed!"

Bill turned to the man. He chuckled. "That's the thing, though!"

"You should never make a deal with me."


	19. Chaos Ensues: Part 3

_**A/N: …And I'm late posting again! Sorry about that! Stupid surprise Math test…**_

_**Anyways, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Nineteen: Chaos Ensues: Part Three**

**No POV**

The Brotherhood. Stan almost dreaded the name nowadays.

They were probably the reason why he was in this mess. The "boys from the lodge", as Stan always called them. To be fair, they're probably the only reason how he's been able to survive for so long. Honestly, it was a miracle he didn't break his back the first time he entered the maze…thing (yeah, what _was _the proper title for this, anyway?)

Aside from name confusion, he knew something very clear about the Brotherhood: they swore to protect anyone and everyone against the power of Bill Cipher. He was a being of pure energy, after all. It actually was the reason why he left: defending the town came first; anyone else could take a hike. When he received the call from his Niece that Dipper and Mabel were coming in town…well, he actually didn't think too much of it. It was after a few days of them being in town that the twins sorta grew on him. He even allowed them to take something from the gift shop, free of charge! That night, he went to his secret lab. For the past thirty years, he was working on a machine, capable of traveling to whole other dimensions. At the beginning of the summer, his plans were to focus only on the teleporter. But after that day…

…It was sorta at the back of his mind.

He announced a temporary abandonment from the Order (whether or not they listened didn't matter; he escaped with a smoke bomb after the message), focused a bit more on Dipper and Mabel, and checked in on the machine once in a while.

That is…until Gideon got a hold of the Shack.

When they managed to get back the deed and expose the little twerp as a fraud, Stan was shocked to discover that Dipper had Journal 3. That Journal was the last thing he needed before the machine could begin its work. And the fact that it was with Dipper the whole time? The kid was into mysteries, sure, but the fact he got the Journal was amazing (though in all likelihood, Stan realized it probably would have been one of the twins to find it. Maybe Mabel could have mistaken it for an arts-and-crafts project? Jeez, thank God it wasn't Journal _2_)!

What did all of this have to do with the Brotherhood? Well, since Stan wasn't technically an active member right now, he hasn't gone to the meetings in a while. It wasn't out of the question that one of the members _had _gotten into the system…the question was of who did. Well, he doubted that Cipher would be stupid-or crazy-enough to let in some of the members, especially the higher-ranking ones.

Though…there was _one _possible exception to that…

No, what was he thinking? It couldn't have been who he was thinking of!

…Then again…

Stan was beginning to wonder when he felt one of his shoes slip off his feet. Oh yeah, that unknown force was still there, trying to suck them in.

Funny how something like that slips your mind so easily.

"Gideon, I think I have an idea on how to get out of here." Stan told the fake psychic. "You need to-."

Stan stopped when he turned his head around. He saw Gideon wasn't listening to him. Well, he wasn't doing much of anything:

He had fallen asleep.

And began to lose his grip to the dirt.

Stan darted (to the best of his abilities) towards Gideon. One hand held onto the grasses, Stan reached out to Gideon just as his grip failed. Just as it seemed the fraud would have perished, the old man managed to grab his pudgy wrist. Keeping a tight grip, Stan thoughts became rapid and too many. Alright…what would the Brotherhood want him to do? Say something? If so…what? The motto? His name and ranking? The pledge of allegiance backwards, what?!

Suddenly, the person Stan thought could bypass into the system came creeping back into his brain.

What if he…?

It was a long shot, but it could work. Stan said the first thing to pop in his mind:

"My ex-wife still misses me…BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER!"

For a few moments, nothing changed. Stan was worried that it hadn't worked when he noticed something.

Waddles wasn't having a spaz-attack anymore.

In fact… The pig was gone.

Ever so slowly, the scenery began to turn back to normal. After gravity went back to normal, Stan let go of Gideon and stood back up, going a bit knobby-kneed in the process. Soon, the familiar tranquility returned, as the small hum of bug sounds returned like nothing had happened. Gideon shot up, gasping for air.

"Whoa, kid, take it easy!" Stan told him; Gideon was noticeably paler than normal. "What happened to you?"

"I-," Gideon began, only to stop. "Nothing. Just thought I saw something, that's all."

You didn't need to be an expert on body language to know he was lying. Stan seemed like he was going to ask about it when Gideon changed the subject. "When'd that get there?"

He pointed off to the side. Stan turned and saw what looked like a trap door. He went by it and tapped the top. It was real wood. His eyebrows narrowed as he opened the entryway. Inside, there was a dark tunnel system, lit by only the occasional torch. The two shared a look.

Stan got off his knees and was about to go in when Gideon spoke up. "What did you say when I was out? Something about an ex-wife?"

The old man chuckled. "Just an old joke." He replied, entering the tunnel.

_I originally heard it from an old friend_, he silently added, the child following him down the mysterious passageway.

* * *

Wendy was torn.

On the one hand, one of her friends had just been clawed chin-to-forehead by a Pterodactyl, and was most likely experiencing extraordinary pain by her own fault. On the other hand, her ex was being carried away by said Pterodactyl, most likely about to become dino-chow.

...Actually, this wasn't really going to be a hard choice, was it?

Before Wendy could help out Soos, he said to her, "Don't worry, I'm fine; you need to go help Robbie!"

Having a decent chunk of your face being cut wasn't really what Wendy classified as "fine", but Soos wanted her to worry about Robbie. Reluctantly, she turned towards the Pterodactyl and Robbie. Looking towards the trees, she ran towards one of the taller ones. Not having much of a plan aside from _"run, climb, and pray you get lucky"_, she began to act out part two of the plan: climb.

On the other side of this, Robbie was screaming like a little girl. Well, how couldn't he? Something told him he'd develop a permeant fear of heights after this. Still, he wasn't just waiting to get rescued; he attempted to get his hoodie loose of the dinosaur, but he was beginning to get higher and away from water. If he tried to get out now, Robbie would end up a pancake!

Back with Wendy, she managed to get atop of that tree she was climbing. The Pterodactyl wasn't too far away; in fact, it was right by the tree. Wendy waited for the perfect moment…

And then jumped on the dino's neck.

Robbie looked on, shocked that Wendy was practically wrestling with a huge freaking dinosaur. In fact, he almost didn't notice that they were beginning to loose altitude until his sneaker got a little wet. He soon got unhooked, splashing into murky water as he fell in. Wendy followed suit, but not because she wanted to; the dinosaur had inexplicably vanished beneath her. As she got out of the water, Robbie wadded over to her.

"You alright?" Wendy asked.

"Fine." He replied. "I just can't believe you wrestled a Pterodactyl."

"Yeah, neither do I."

Robbie slightly smirked at her comment as the two got out of the water. Soos, still on the beach, looked a lot less damaged then Wendy expected; his face looked recently cleaned as a white bandage laid perfectly down the middle of his face.

"Soos-?" Wendy began, worry laced within her words.

"I'm okay, dude." Soos reassured. "Hurts a lot, sure, but I should be fine."

A small smile came on Wendy's face as Soos pointed off to the side. "Okay, you're never gonna believe this, but a blue trail just suddenly appeared when you two were gone. It might lead to a way out or something."

The two teens looked; indeed, there was a trail of blue sparkles leading back in the woods. Robbie shrugged.

"Seems likely. Let's just get out of here; this place gives me the willies."

* * *

Phineas and Mabel were panting behind a rock.

They'd managed to trick the Summerween Trickster long enough in order to hide. It wasn't a very good spot, sure, but as long as it covered them, it was enough. The Trickster as still looking for them as Phineas peered around the edge.

"Have any *pant* ideas, Phineas?" Mabel asked in between breaths.

"Hmm…" Phineas thought. Well, according to a rushed explanation by Mabel, the thing was made out of "loser candy". However, eating was out of the question because…well, it just would have been really creepy. He looked up at one of the rock spirals, as maybe they could be lucky and it'd fall right on top of it. Unfortunately, dumb luck wasn't an option; those rocks were as sturdy as could be. A few more failed possibilities ran through Phineas' head.

That's when he realized something horrible.

"I…I don't know." He said. He turned to her. "Unless we somehow get lucky in the next ten seconds, I don't think we'd be able to-."

A voice behind Mabel cleared his throat. The two turned to see Mermando. Mabel practically screamed with joy.

"Mermando, you're okay!" She hugged him tightly, causing the merman to blush. Mabel got out from her near bear-hug grip as she looked as his tail. She gasped at the still bleeding wound. "Your fin!"

The merman looked down. "It's nothing." He reassured, clearly lying through his teeth.

"I don't suppose you happen to have any ideas on how to get out of here?" Phineas brought back up the monster currently stalking them.

Mermando looked at the creature. He then got it. "I do, actually!" The Spanish-man/fish said. "Mabel, you need to go down to the cave's exit. Go down until you are out of sight, and wait for us there."

"What?! But-!" Mabel began to protest.

"Mabel, please. You have to trust me on this one."

She stopped a moment before sighing. "Fine," she begrudgingly agreed, running down towards the other cave's mouth.

"As for you, Phineas," Mermando told the red head. "I need you to take out a flashlight, go up on to ledge, and wait for my word."

Phineas nodded, running up to where the merman pointed. Mermando, on the other hand, was swimming against the stream to meet up with the monster. His head bobbed out of the water as he shouted, "Hey, Candy-Man!"

The Trickster turned his head, looking at the merman with those fake, beady eyes.

"_Oh, a sushi course, I see." _It said, in an attempt to intimidate Mermando. The merman thought for a moment. How would Mabel react to what he was about to do? Well, she wouldn't like it, which was certain…

Mermando saw Phineas, flashlight in hand, standing on the ledge, trying to see what he was planning. The merman allowed a small grin on his mouth.

She'd thank him later.

"You know, I always wondered what taffy tasted like!"

Before the Trickster could react, Mermando leapt out of the water and onto his face, gnawing at his flesh. It felt completely wrong, sure, but this one time Mermando was willing to look over it.

Phineas was in complete surprised as Mermando wrestled with the candy-monster. At one point, the Trickster was completely hunched over, attempting to get the merman off, leaving his back vulnerable.

"NOW, PHINEAS!" Mermando screamed. Phineas realized what was happening and whacked a weak part of the wall with all of his might. It caused a huge vibration in the walls, shaking a nearby rock spiral loose. Mermando just barely leapt out of the way when the rock completely impaled the candy monster through the chest. It let out a nearly ear-splitting screech before bits of candy began to leak out of it.

It was leaving a small pool of it on the ground as Mabel saw Phineas and Mermando coming in. She smiled, wondering about a billion different things. Each thought silenced, however, when she saw Mermando. That hole in his tail was _nothing _compared to what he looked like now. He was a deathly pale, struggled to battle the weak current, and looked like he was about to collapse, then and there.

"Oh my God!" She shouted, coming by the merman's side. Phineas was right next to her as Mermando said, "I can't go on. You'll have to leave without me."

"What?!" Phineas exclaimed. "Mermando, you save our lives twice! We can't just leave you!"

"You can and will." Mermando commanded them. Now it looked like he struggled to talk. "Follow the cave until you reach the middle. There you'll be able to get out."

Mabel looked horrified. "Mermando…"

He gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry, Mabel," Mermando told her, looking at her teary eyes. "I'll- I'll be fine."

His smile faded as his eyes began to close for the final time.

"Just…fine…"

* * *

Tyrone stopped moving.

At first, he slightly panicked. Was he about to die?! No…no… Still breathing. He almost sighed in relief.

If, you know, his lungs weren't on fire.

I'm not kidding; the area around his lungs were beginning to come in contact with flames. He had enough common sense to wiggle away as he patted out the fire. After this, he scanned the scene around him:

The big, scary, half-bull thing in front of him seemed to be running in circles as a blur of blue and black ran in front of him. Fire would come out occasionally from the creature's nose, but nothing much more. Tyrone stood up before he heard a loud scream. He looked to see that Leaderaur had lashed out one of his claws out on the black blur. She-and it was a she, judging by the scream-fell down as the blue blur screamed a name:

"NICOLE!"

Tyrone gasped, looking around for something. Then he saw it; a silver arrow, covered in something green, was not too far away from where he was. On complete instinct alone, he grabbed the arrow and tossed it at the beast as hard as he could. It collided with a lower section of his back, and Leaderaur only saw it as a small injury. He flicked out the arrow before turning back to his dinner.

But here was a problem: his dinner was gone.

Once more, the monster began looking for his food, growling.

Tyrone, meanwhile, ran towards where Dipper and Nicole were, (and I'll bet you'll _never _guess this) hiding behind a boulder. Nicole was only barely being supported by Dipper, but she looked horrible. The back of her tank was torn open, only seeming to stay on her body by a thread, and her breath was shaky. Dipper looked almost relieved to see Tyrone.

Almost.

"We need to find a way out of here!" Dipper exclaimed, picking up Nicole when she began to slip out his grip.

Tyrone looked around. "There's a cave opening over there!" He said, pointing towards the entrance. He looked at the preteen, who nodded. Tyrone was carrying the other half of Nicole's body as the three made their way to the exit. It seemed like they were going to be home free…

…Until, of course, a roar was heard.

Dipper and Tyrone's heads turned in unison (Nicole really couldn't do much of anything). Leaderaur had picked up on their scents and began to head their way.

"Come on!" Dipper said, beginning to sprint for it.

"No."

The boy stopped. Dipper turned to see Tyrone hadn't moved a single step. He looked behind him; Leaderaur was gaining speed. Tyrone sighed, as if he might have been expecting this for a while. He went over to Dipper, letting Nicole's arm slip from his shoulder.

"Tyrone, what are you-?" Dipper began to ask. It was then that Tyrone took of his number '2' hat. Dipper's eyes widened in horror.

"Tyrone, don't do this!" Dipper pleaded with him.

"There's no other choice." Tyrone grimly replied. The clone almost acted too calm at the prospect of what was to come. He took Dipper's hat and switched it with his own. "You need to get Nicole help, and I'm the clone here."

"But-!"

"Look, all you need to do is follow the caves. When you reach the end, you'll know it." Dipper's hat was placed on his head.

Dipper was filled with dread. He knew there was no way of convincing-well, himself-to back out of this. Tyrone, with one last tip of the hat, ran away from the two. Leaderaur, seeing Tyrone's hat, mistook him for Dipper as he ran after. The real Dipper, on the other hand, put Nicole's other hand back on his shoulder. He walked, careful not to go too fast, to the blue and green backpacks (that had somehow appeared near the exit; Dipper was just going to go with it for now). Pushing the bags with his feet, Dipper and Nicole finally made it into the cave.

They were a little ways down when Dipper heard Tyrone's scream.

* * *

Bill Cipher once more burst through the door (Jeez, what was it, for the third time in the last forty-eight hours?) Six-Fingered Hand didn't even flinch. He was too busy slumped over in relief in his favorite black chair. The monitors had changed their tune quite a bit from the last time we'd seen them. They now read:

**SYSTEM OVERRIDE.**

**CANCELING SYSTEM DELETION.**

"How did you get out?" The demon demanded, teleporting in front of the man. He turned back to his red hue from before.

"Like I'm telling _you,_" Six-Fingered Hand cryptically replied. The triangle turned around as the man took out a blue piece of energy from his mouth. He slightly shivered. _I'm repressing the memories myself._

As Six-Fingered Hand flicked away the remains of his bonds, Cipher attempted to reprogram the system deletion. Every time he did, though, it just read "Error".

After four or five failed tries, Six-Fingered Hand finally spoke up. "It's not going to work, Bill. I changed the way to start the system deletion."

A small tingle was at the back of his neck. _That's never worked, Bill. _The Man Once More behind the Chair thought, rolling his eyes. _My mind is sealed tighter than you can get through._

Cipher growled, as if he heard this, and the tingle once more ceased. He once more turned to the old man, who wore a bit of a smirk. The demon grew in size, looking like he was about to destroy the geezer. For most people, they would have shrieked.

For Six-Fingered Hand, he simply laughed.

"_Please_, Cipher, you're embarrassing yourself!" The old man said.

"Oh, am I?" Bill voice became loud and echo-y. "What makes you think I won't destroy you right now, Six-Fingered Hand?!"

"Because you need me." He began. "Without me, this whole 'test-run' would have imploded in on itself long ago. I'm the only one who can get through all the security cracks, and I'm the only one who knows how to fix those cracks if needed. Face it, Bill; if you get rid of me, this whole thing goes down with me."

The demon's hands closed into fists.

However, he didn't strike.

Instead, he shrunk in size, back to normal form. Even his color turned back to its usual yellow. But, he wasn't going to repeat any mistakes. Bill snapped his fingers and a collar appeared around Six-Finger Hand's neck. It was silver and covered in odd, golden symbols.

"If you disobey any orders of mine again…" Bill began, allowing himself to stop. He closed one of his hands, hard. In response, the collar tightened, beginning to suffocate the old man. After one of two seconds, the demon released, making Six-Fingered Hand gasp for air. "Get it?"

The man nodded.

Putting his hands behind his back, the demon floated out.

Amazingly, he never seemed to notice that Stan and Gideon's monitor was on a continuous loop of them following Waddles.

_**A/N: Okay, seriously, does anyone have any good names for Six-Fingered Hand?! He's actually DEVELOPED into something! I don't want to have to keep calling him "Six-Fingered Hand" or "The Man (insert activity here)". I want to develop this guy more, maybe give him a backstory! ANY NAME WOULD BE LOVELY!**_


	20. Aftermath

_**A/N: Wow, I'm actually on schedule! Let's see how long this one lasts, folks!**_

**Chapter Twenty: Aftermath**

**Dipper's POV**

Which was worse: knowing that your only guide in a maze full of madness was currently dead, or knowing that the only person that could defend you was possibly bleeding to death on your shirt?

Yeah, either way you spin it, it's not good.

Nicole had probably lost consciousness ten minutes ago. But I couldn't stop; there was still the possibility of Leaderaur ramming through the cave's opening. I will say right now, though, it wasn't easy; Nicole was _really _getting heavy. She didn't weigh all too much, but I was in the middle of both running (technically I was limping/lightly jogging, but what's the difference?) for my life and cursing my noodle arms.

Finally, after I was almost positive I was three-ways away from Leaderaur, I stopped, panting heavily. It might have been a few seconds or an hour before I heard a moan. Nicole.

"AH!" She cried out; Nicole probably couldn't feel the sharp-to-a-tip claws rip open her skin before she passed out, so I was pretty sure her back was in immense pain. "GOD, WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BACK?!"

"You don't remember?" I asked.

"Well…" Nicole began to think. "I remember you screaming, but…" She must have moved the wrong way, because she let out another scream.

"Calm down, it'll make it worse!"

"LIKE YOU WOULD!"

"Okay, okay," I looked around the area. There were a couple of fallen boulders (probably shaken out by Leaderaur's footsteps) not too far where we were. "Alright, I'll patch up your back, we'll sleep for the night, and in the morning-."

I stopped. While I was talking, I dragged Nicole over to one of the boulders. I put her down on one of the rocks when I saw her back. Yeah, the three claw marks looked pretty gruesome; blood still leaked out of the three long scratches extended along her back.

But that wasn't what surprised me.

That was everything _else _on her back.

Her dark tan held multiple, previously-hidden wounds. Old red scars, which looked sickingly fresh; multiple stitches, a few of which had been reopened; even one or two burnt marks.

"…Is everything alright?" Nicole asked.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

Dipper's silence got me really worried for a second. Was the wound worse than he thought? Had too much blood been lost?

"What… What happened to your back?" His voice was noticeably shakier than before.

He was kidding, right? "Oh, I don't know, a BIG FREAKING MONSTER SCRATCHED IT?! What else would there-?"

Then I remembered what else there would have been.

Funny how that stuff would have slipped my mind so quickly, huh?

"Oh. That."

"Yeah. _That._"

"Look, it's a long-AH!" The scratch marks acted up again, hurting like nothing else. Dipper suddenly remembered I was probably bleeding to death, and he unzipped one of our bags. It sounded like he got out some bandages as I continued, "-story, and if you haven't-OW!-noticed, I'm a little bit-UH!-out of commission for the moment."

A little while passed before I felt the last of the adhesive tape go on. "How does it feel?"

"Like I just got my spine ripped out by a monster, what else?"

I could feel his glare, even if I was turned around. "I'm gonna try and find some flint." His footsteps went down the cave a bit.

Something told me this was going to be a _long _night.

* * *

**No POV**

Mabel lied down on the sand, feeling awful.

He was gone. He was actually gone. Mermando just went limp in her hands. He was gone, just so Phineas and herself could have a better chance.

It didn't put her in an all-too good mood.

Phineas wasn't the cheeriest person, either; he'd _seen _the Summerween Trickster scratch Mermando once or twice. He didn't think it would have been _fatal, _but with the hole in his tail…maybe…

Still, it wasn't him he was worried about. Phineas turned his head to Mabel, looking up from the dirt he'd been staring at.

"Mabel…" he began; how was he supposed to do something like this? "Look, I'm really sorry that Mermando's gone."

"You're saying that like it's your fault." Mabel replied. She shot up. "Was it?!"

"No, no!" Phineas told her. This seemed to calm Mabel a bit. Still, it didn't improve her mood a whole lot. She just returned to lying down on the sand, despite her sweater most likely being ruined. "What I'm trying to say is…well, I don't know what your relationship was, but-."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" She interrupted, sitting up again. Phineas stayed quiet.

Needless to say, that wasn't his best option.

"You're…_kidding, _right?" Mabel looked half horrified, half…angry? That was a first. "You want me to just pick up and forget all about Mermando, despite the fact that he died-as in, _lost his life-_in my arms five minutes ago?!"

Phineas raised his eyebrows in surprise. He wasn't trying to say that! He was trying to-

…Well… It did seem a lot like that, the more he thought about it.

"No, not at all!" Phineas tried to explain, to the best of his abilities. "I was trying to-!"

"I can't believe it. You ARE saying that!" Mabel was outraged, tears stinging her eyes. "He was my first real boyfriend! He actually returned my feelings! My first kiss was with him!" She was now standing up. Now that she thought about it, he seemed to be the _only _person it ever worked out with! No love at first sight, no gnomes, no psychics that attempted to destroy her family…

…No oblivious red heads, still toying with her emotions, despite the fact he was already dating someone.

Mabel couldn't help herself; she was just too peeved off.

She ran up to Phineas and kissed him, right on the lips.

It was only a few seconds, but when she pulled away, Phineas was stunned. Mabel still looked angry, sad, and a whole other slew of emotions, while she wiped off her lips.

"And at least he could figure out I liked him on his own."

Without another word, she bolted.

* * *

Wendy looked in concern at Soos. The big guy still wore a grin, but it still looked like he was hurting. That white bandage was beginning to peel off, and the two teens could clearly see that the huge red gash was swollen. When they began to stare, Soos pushed down on the adhesive. Not a word was muttered between the three of them for a while.

"Everything alright, Wendy?" Soos asked, as if nothing were wrong. "You looked spaced out."

She blinked twice. "Fine," she said, turning her glance away from him.

Before another awkward silence could happen, Soos said, "You know, encountering a dinosaur sure made me hungry." If he was expecting a bit even the smallest of smiles, he didn't get it. "How about we take a break for a bit?"

Another silence, though they seemed to be in agreement. The three went off the path a little, entering a clearing.

"I'll go get some logs, for sitting and stuff." Soos left, leaving Robbie and Wendy alone. Wendy took off her bag as Robbie got a good look at her. Even half-dirty and nearly killed by a dinosaur, she still looked kinda pretty.

"Hey," Robbie said. "Thank you again. For, you know, saving my life."

Wendy smiled a little. "It was nothing."

"No, it wasn't. You _saved _my life. I don't know how to repay you." _Yes, you do._ A voice suddenly chirped in. _You know _exactly _what to do. Just look at her._

He did. Wendy looked as perfect as could be. Nearly frayed red hair suddenly became luscious. Any scars she might have had seemingly vanished. Her clothes were no longer ripped or drenched in dust.

She was just too…beautiful.

But she hadn't really miraculously changed to Aphrodite. Just to Robbie, she had. Soos had returned, and Wendy just looked normal. But that didn't stop Robbie from doing the unthinkable as she began to say something:

He pulled her into a long kiss.

Soos' jaw dropped, as nearly did the logs he was holding. Wendy's eyes were those of shock, as was her stiff figure. She pushed him away, as Robbie's face at first turned into a smile.

But when she returned to normal to him, he realized what a horrible mistake he made.

"Wendy…"

She didn't listen, not even say a word; she just ran.

* * *

Gideon nearly ran into another cobweb.

Honestly, you'd _think _a secret compartment might have had a cleaner atmosphere, but _no. _It was incredibly dusty, and bug-infested, just for kicks!

Gideon and Stan descended a spiral staircase, various torches littered about. Not that it mattered; Stan had grabbed one in the beginning, just in case. It was beginning to run out. Stan was probably just going to replace it with another soon.

In their descent, Gideon couldn't help but think of the dream had recently had. You know, when everything was turned upside, and Gideon had turned out to be sleeping? Yeah, that one.

It was very brief; something that sounded like Bill was trying to make the kid an offer. It was blurry, but it sounded like something was about to happen. Whatever was going to happen, though, never came to pass. Bill seemed to get worried about something before his voice grew silent. The only clear line had heard throughout the whole dream was at the end. It said, in a very chilling voice:

"_Stan will get you out. Don't tell him about this; just trust what he says."_

Gideon was trying to place who it was. It certainly wasn't Bill, as it was actually trying to be _helpful; _but he'd never heard it before. So…who could it have been?

No matter who or what it was, as soon as it was over, Stan had discovered this passage. After what he had heard, Gideon wasn't about to doubt it.

It seemed like eons before the two reached a door. It was old and run down, just like the rest of the place. So, you can imagine Gideon's shock when he saw where it lead.

It looked like a huge portal. Or scanner. Maybe both? It was lit a light blue, inside of various blue squiggles of gibberish. In the center of it all was a black ball, connected by various black cables. Moreover, it sent various blue pulses of energy throughout the cords, like sending small messages all across a large network. Stan smiled, nearly chuckling. _I can't believe it,_ Stan thought._ He's not gone._

_Six-Fingered Hand is still alive._

"What is that?" Gideon asked.

"The answer to our prayers," Stan triumphantly replied.

"Kid, welcome to the mainframe."


	21. Notice

_**A/N: Hi everyone. Alright, I'm afraid "The Beginning of The End" will be going on hiatus for a while. I haven't had enough time to write for the past couple of months, since I've been having a lot of personal troubles (PC complications, school work, high school decisions, my own schedule, etc.). In fact, the majority of the chapters (as in 95%, usually) were written the day of posting. It got a little hard to keep up with after a while. Don't worry, though; I won't be gone forever. Just until I can get everything into order. Until then, though, don't expect new chapters every Tuesday.**_


	22. Turning the Other Cheek

_**A/N: I'M BACK! You know what that means: the hiatus is officially over! Because I haven't posted in a while, you guys get an extra-long chapter today. I'm returning to the normal posting schedule (Tuesdays), until the story's over (which is coming soon).**_

_**Well, I hope you enjoy! **_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: Turning the Other Cheek**

**Nicole's POV**

What would be the worst part of today? Well, it could be when I got brutally clawed by a monster; or the fact that the guide who helped us survive for so long was brutally murdered (Dipper filled me in); it could also be when horrible memories came flooding back. However, I would say it'd be when Dipper asked me this:

"Where did the rest of those scars come from?"

It was night (possibly; for all I know, it could have been noon). Dipper was roasting a tough piece of jerky over the small fire we had. I was relegated to laying on a boulder, the pain in my back reduced to a dull throb. Still, I couldn't jump up and claimed to be getting more firewood when he asked the question, awkwardly avoiding the subject as I walked away.

"I don't want to talk about it." I could hear my voice turning hollow. Half those marks were months, even years, old, but they still felt fresh. Dipper, sensing my discomfort, dropped the subject.

...Yeah, and I own a magic gun.

"So… What about the photo?" He said. Oh, great, we're opening _that _old wound again. Why do I get the feeling that Cipher purposely put us together, just for his own sick amusement?

"I don't want to talk about that either."

"Can you at least tell me _something _about yourself?"

"I love listening to Beethoven and Mozart at night."

"…An _actual _fact about yourself?"

"The last one was a lie; I actually prefer Bach."

He scowled (what, it was true!). A heavy silence followed; it practically suffocated me. Finally, I cracked.

"You want to know what happened? Fine. Pull up a chair and listen."

He didn't grab a chair, obviously, but he did straighten up in interest. I did the best job I could of propping my arms up so I could look at his reactions. And so, I began:

"That photo a few months before I was born. Mom, the person in the purple dress, died due to something about 'birthing complications'. After that, my brother, Patrick (the little boy), said Simon went into a depression."

"Simon?"

"My Dad."

"Why not call him 'Dad'?"

I laughed. "_That _monster? He's lucky I don't call him _half _the names I think up for him!"

"All my life," I continued, "he's been nothing but a drunk. Sometimes, there would be weeks at a time where he wouldn't eat or drink, and I thought he'd died. Other times? He whipped out a belt or a hot poker and attacked at the first thing he saw. Guess who _that_ usually was?"

I saw him cringe. Huh, serves _him_ right, asking about my life.

Still, I kept going: "The only reason I stayed as long as I did was because of Patrick. He was the closest thing to a parent I'd ever have. Patrick supported me, gave me advice, or at least had an ice pack when the time came."

"But Patrick had some bad connections. I don't remember who they were, but they were into some… uh…risky things, if you know what I mean." Dipper nod, seeming to understand. "One day during School, the police came by. They'd gotten a tip from someone, and were going on full force. They raided lockers, preformed blood tests…it was the most frantic day of my life."

I paused; the memory was still too fresh in my mind. After a breath, the story continued: "That day, they arrested Patrick for drug charges."

"Turns out one of his 'friends' set him up; planted the evidence in his locker. Seeing him in handcuffs, going into a police car, was my tipping point. I knew Simon was at the bar when I came home. As fast as I could, I grabbed food, water, clothes, and my archery kit; the only good thing Simon ever did was paying for archery lessons, but even _then _it was because of Patrick; stuffed it in a bag, and ran out of there."

Silence; I didn't know how to continue. Dipper seemed to be taking it all in. "How… How old is he?" He asked.

"…Fifteen," I answered, a pang of pain in my voice.

If he was surprised, he sure didn't show it. He just waited, expecting more to the story.

And, yeah, there was more: "For the next two weeks, I was in the woods, alone. Shot an arrow once or twice, conserved food, stayed away from people, nothing too big."

I hesitated. Should I continue with the story? _Well, _I figured_, why stop now? He'll just bug you about it._

"That is…until I met the boys."

"It wasn't too long ago. I think they were out on a nature hike or something. All their friends were there; Isabella, Buford, Baljeet, even Perry. I was trudging through the area when I accidently passed by their trail. At first, I thought they were animals, so I fired an arrow. I learned later I nearly hit Phineas in the eye."

"Gee, that sounds familiar." Dipper remarked, but at my glare he fell silent._*****_

"I attempted to hide in the trees, but Ferb had spotted me; I swear, the dude has, like, raptor vision. Isabella and Baljeet tried to get me out, but that didn't work. Ferb told me later Buford attempted to draw me out by force, but the others had stopped him. Phineas was the one that got my attention, even if the others hissed at him to stop. He said, 'We don't want to hurt you, just show us who you are!'"

"'No,' I'd replied. 'Go away! Forget you ever saw me!'"

"'Technically we haven't seen you yet…' Ferb had remarked, but Phineas continued on."

"'Are you alone?' he asked."

"'Why do you care?'"

"'Well… Are you?'"

"'That didn't answer my question.'"

"'You didn't answer his!' Isabella shouted. She probably would have given me a piece of her mind if Phineas hadn't stopped her."

"I heard him sigh. 'Look, I don't care if you're alone or not. I don't care that you nearly hit me in the eye. But, I _do _care if you need help. Please; that's all we want to do.'"

"I was quiet. How was I supposed to react? A stranger – someone who I nearly _killed_, nonetheless – was showing genuine concern for me."

"That was the thing got that me from behind the trees. They gasped when they first saw me. I didn't know why until we went back to town. In a mirror, I realized I looked like a wreck; covered in dirt and scratches, my clothes were torn up, rings were under my eyes, and I was paler then Ferb."

"The boys' parents were the first to come home. Buford, Baljeet, and Isabella went back to their homes as I told the two of them my story. Once I had finished, they left for a while. I overheard a bit of the conversation; they were wondering what to do with me. Sending me back wasn't an option, and an orphanage was out of the question. They considered a state home, but a phone call from Isabella's mom convinced them otherwise. Candace managed to weasel into the conversation and brought up an old storage room downstairs. They had been trying to convert it to a guest room for a while, but had never gotten around to finishing it. There was already a bed available, and I clearly didn't need many things."

"There was some more mumbles before they came out."

"'Okay,' Mrs. Flynn said. 'We decided that you can stay here until everything can be sorted out.'"

"Since then, the Flynn-Fletchers have been working on getting me to one of my family members, and I've lived in Danville ever since."

There was a silence after I finished the story. Dipper looked a combination of surprised, confused, and…sad. Okay, I don't care what his reasoning was; if he was even _thinking _of pitying me, I'll sock him in the gut.

Despite this, he said nothing. There was this huge period of silence. A while passed before my eyes closed, Dipper poking awkwardly at the fire.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

So. Nicole's story.

It goes without saying Nicole never came off as the…"friendliest" of people. Yet… I never would've thought…

I was brought out of my thoughts by Nicole. She was asleep, though had been shivering slightly. There was a small breeze in here, and it was a bit cooler than usual. But I was wearing a vest and shorts, and she was wearing khakis that went to her knees, yet I felt perfectly fine. I supposed her exposed back wasn't helping matters, with her tank being utterly obliterated by the Leaderaur's claws. As far I knew, she didn't bring a jacket (it WAS in the middle of the summer, after all), so that wasn't an option

Maybe it was the story I had just heard. Maybe it was because I didn't necessarily need it. Heck, maybe I just wanted to be nice.

Pretty soon, though, I took off my blue vest and placed it on her back.

It seemed to work fine (well, she stopped shivering, anyway). I plopped back down on the log as I began the night's watch.

* * *

**No POV**

Phineas was awestruck.

Mabel had liked him this whole time? He couldn't believe it. All this time, he thought she was just overly friendly!

Well… She kind of was, but you get the idea.

And then she had kissed him. Right on the lips, nonetheless. His first ever kiss (…Maybe. He faintly remembered another one, but that could've been a dream). Mabel Pines.

…The girl who'd kissed him in a fit of rage and grief.

Oh, God. What had he done?! He didn't mean to upset her, it was just a misunderstanding! He just had to get her to know that! But how?

_Think, Phineas, think! _He thought. _What would Ferb do in this situation?_

He pondered a moment. It was then his eyes fell upon some twigs on the beach.

Suddenly, he had it.

* * *

Mabel sat near the edge of the river, partially tear strained, underneath the collar of her sweater. She didn't have to ask who came by her, his feet crinkling in the sand the whole way there.

"Hey, Mabel," Phineas greeted. Mabel didn't reply; she didn't have anything nice to say, after all. And if you had nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. "…Isn't hot in there?" he asked, as she had previously complained about the heat.

"Sorry, Mabel can't hear you." She replied. "She went to Sweater Town, and isn't expecting to come back."

Phineas looked down in shame. He sat down on the sand. "Well, when she does come back, could you give her this?"

He placed something rough on her lap. Mabel peaked over the rim of her sweater in curiosity.

She discovered it was a crude star, made recently out of sticks and held by tape. On the back was some streak marks, once more made out of sticks, colored faintly with purple, yellow, and red.

"What's that?" She inquired, nearly poking her head out. Remembering her anger, though, her head seemed to go deeper in.

"It's a shooting star," Phineas explained. Mabel looked at her symbol on her sweater, as that was how she got in this mess into the first place.

"Ignoring how Bill interpreted it," he told her, "Ferb once said shooting stars were the symbols of light and hope. In the ancient times, people thought shooting stars were so great, they believed them to be gifts from their gods! Even though it was shown to go downward, people always saw them as a symbol positivity or good luck."

He paused a moment. "You know, Bill was right; you _are _a shooting star. You're always so happy, friendly, and a great source of luck. Heck, if you had never met Mermando, who knows what would have happened to us!" Another pause; Phineas slumped his shoulders down, twiddling with his fingers. "Losing Mermando must be hard for you. I can't imagine what you're going through. I'm not saying just to forget him, move on, and wear a big smile the whole way through. I'm saying that we should fulfill his last wish: getting out of here."

"How do you know if we're even getting out?" Mabel pointed out.

Phineas smiled. "I know we are." He moved the star closer to her. "You're my shooting star, after all."

A brief silence. "Wow." Mabel said. "Thatwas the _sappiest_ thing I've ever heard in my life."

She began laughing, her head coming out of her sweater. Phineas' grin grew wider as he chuckled himself. "Hey, I had to think of something! Isabella once said girls like things like that!"

Mabel's laughter stopped. "Oh, yeah, Isabella. Your _girlfriend._" The word "girlfriend" was said almost viperously.

Phineas' eyebrow burrowed. "Wait, do you mean that like…?" He realized that she did mean it in the way he was thinking of. "Oh, no, Isabella's not my girlfriend!"

Mabel's eyes flashed open, her head turning towards the Flynn. "What?! But you said you were last night!"

"No, I meant that in the friendly way! She's just a girl that happens to be my friend. A girl friend."

Mabel's cheeks flushed pink. "Oh." She said. After a pause, she continued, "Pfft, yeah…I knew that you meant it like that."

"Oh, good, because that just would have been awkward."

"Tell me about it!" Mabel's laugh was so fake that it would sound jarring in a video game.

Phineas didn't seem to notice, though, as he stood up. "Are we cool?" He asked, holding out his hand.

Mabel looked at the poorly rendered star. She smiled.

"Yeah," she said, accepting it. "We're cool."

* * *

"Wendy!" Robbie shouted, scrambling through the trees.

"Wendy!" Soos also hollered, looking behind bushes.

The two of them had been searching for hours. So far, there had been no sign of the redhead to be found. "Dude, we should take a break." Soos was panting hard, a combination of heat and exhaustion swelling up inside of him.

"Are you kidding?! That's what got us in this mess in the first place!" Robbie was disgruntled and raging from all the searching. "If you hadn't decided to take a break, I wouldn't have been alone with Wendy, I wouldn't have kissed her, and we wouldn't be here!"

"Robbie, you can't blame this one on me." Soos told him. "_You _were the one to kiss _your _ex-girlfriend, not me."

"Well-!" Robbie was about to go on some wild tangent before he noticed Soos looked at him sincerely. The bandage was slightly peeling off again, reminding him on what happened earlier. "Well… You still shouldn't have left us alone. I've wanted to get back together with Wendy for months now, and you know that!"

"I do," Soos began. "I also know that young love can lead people to do some crazy stuff. Like, remember Romeo and Juliet? Those two were so determined that they loved each other they killed themselves because of it. And they didn't even know each other that well!"

There was a pause. "A first heartbreak can be hard, Robbie. But no matter how hard it may seem, you will get over it."

"...That… That was actually pretty deep." Robbie was surprised. "I didn't know you could be so smart."

Soos shrugged. "It's a blessing and a curse."

Robbie began looking around the place again. He was about to scream "Wendy" again when he found her. She was at the edge of the shore, knees curled up as she stared vacantly into the water. The Goth teen turned to Soos, who gave him a "_Go to her." _expression. After a deep breath, Robbie walked towards her.

"Why?" She asked, as if she knew Robbie was already there.

"Why what?" He asked back. Even not turning around, he could feel her look of annoyance.

"What do you _think_ I mean?!" Wendy sounded incredibly embittered, like the very thought made her want to punch something.

Robbie's gaze went down; there really was no beating around the bush, was there? "I want you back, Wendy," He told her. "I've been trying to get you back for a while now."

"And have you ever considered how hard that is for me?!" Wendy stood up, turning toward the emo teen. Even in the moonlight, Robbie noticed small tears managing to escape her eyes. "Having to deal with your calls, your visits, day in and day out?! I'm constantly looking over my shoulder because I'm afraid you're somewhere nearby! Do I still have feelings for you?" Wendy paused for a moment. Robbie dreaded the answer before she uttered a single word:

"Yes."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" he questioned; you could hear hopefulness in his voice.

"I do, but…" Wendy rubbed her arm in nervousness. "It's… It's not the same when we first dated. It's more like confusion, rage, and sadness. I don't know, maybe it's just hormones. But it's not love. Not even a like. Everything's just…jacked up, you know? And you're not making things any easier. Could we get back together someday? I don't know. Just… Not now. Now, I just need to sort things out for myself. So… Could we just stay away from each other for a bit? ...Obviously not now, considering…you know…" She gestured around the general area. "But when we get out, I need some space. A little time to think. Is that okay?"

Robbie let it sink in a moment. Wendy had _never _opened up like this. Not once had she ever mumbled anything about her feelings, even when they were dating. Yet, here they were.

He sighed.

"Yeah," he answered. "We can do that."

Wendy smiled for the first time in a while.

* * *

"This is how Bill's been able to control everything?" Gideon asked, getting closer to the core of the system.

"Kind of." Stanford looked over some random cords on the floor. "It's how the mainframe is able to transport monsters, landscapes, and other things into the maze."

"So... If you destroy this, you destroy the maze?"

Stan thought a moment. "Basically." He turned to the child 'psychic'. "But-."

Before he could finish, Gideon picked up a discarded pipe, and ran to the central core. Luckily, Stan managed to hold him back.

"Are you crazy?!" Stan exclaimed. "…Well, you are, but that's not the point. You can't just destroy it!"

"WHAT?!" Gideon shouted. "WHY?!"

"The whole maze is connected to it! If you destroy the mainframe, everyone inside will be killed, including us!"

Gideon, though reluctant, dropped the pipe. He raised an eyebrow as Stan went over by a control panel, looking over the buttons. "You seem to know a lot about this place."

"So I'm a technology buff, big whoop." Stan said, trying to brush off the question. "This isn't any more advanced than a supercomputer or scanner."

_Yeah, like the one in my basement. _He silently added, pushing a few buttons.

"Well then, Mr. 'technology buff', what're we gonna do now?" Gideon crossed his arms.

Stan thought a moment. "You've used a Floppy Disk before, right? Or whatever you guys call them nowadays, uh…" He snapped his fingers a few times.

"…A flash drive?"

"Yeah! Well, think of this like a computer. The controller I'm near can be the flash drive. If I can safely deactivate all these safety precautions…" Stan turned his head to Gideon, pausing only a moment.

"We can get out."

* * *

Six-Fingered Hand was beginning to grow a tad anxious.

Stanford was taking a while to get out of the system. In the old days (or back when he didn't have cataracts), Stan could take apart any machine and get it back running in no time flat. Ah, the good old days: finding monsters, discovering new mysteries; how he grew nostalgic for it.

Then, they had found it: the ultimate enigma.

The "Machine", as it was dubbed, was right under the Shack, accessed by using a code on the vending machine. Once down there, the two had begun to work: cracking codes, tracking the other two books, all while trying to unlock the machine's true purpose. In a sense, they were the first mystery duo in Gravity Falls.

But then there was that day: July 4th, 1982, to be exact.

That was the day Six-Fingered Hand first met Cipher.

He remembered the day clearly: he was rigging up some fireworks on top of the Shack, which would have gone off later that evening. He was tying the last of the firecrackers on the rooftop when Bill spoke: "You missed a spot."

Six-Fingered Hand yelped as he spun around. He easily recognized the Dorito-shaped beast.

"Hey, you're Bill Cipher!" The man had proclaimed.

"And you can pass the same memory test a Kindergartner could! Bravo, Six-Fingered Hand, bravo!" Bill had replied.

Of course, by that time, he didn't have that nickname. "Six-Fingered…? My name's–."

"Something I don't need to be reminded of." Bill interrupted. "I'm just getting used to the nickname."

"Why? I don't have six fingers on either hand." He put up his hands as proof. The triangular demon simply pushed them down with his cane.

"I know, I know, but you're missing the bigger picture here: I know things you don't."

"…Yeah…so?"

The demon sighed. "How to explain this… Alright, so I basically know everything about this universe: past, present, and future. Ask me any question." Six-Fingered Hand was silent. "Come on, anything."

"Okay," the man began. "What's–?"

"One."

Six-Fingered Hand paused; Bill was right, but how did he already know the problem? "Who was–?"

"The alleged founder of Gravity Falls. Simply a common nobody used to cover up a scandal."

"Really? Than who really–?"

"Sir Lord Quentin Trembley the Third, Esquire: 8 ½ President of the United States, married a woodpecker, and is currently residing in a thing of peanut brittle."

"…Where–?

"In California."

"How–?"

"By sitting in a tub of cream."

"What's–?"

"Three."

"CAN I FINISH A QUESTION?!"

"But you just did!"

Six-Fingered Hand glared at Cipher, who laughed. "Okay, okay, I'll stop." The demon swirled around the man. "I know you ask a lot of questions, Six-Fingered Hand. So how about this: if you let me hang around for a while, I'll share anything you want to know about this town."

"'Hang around'?"

"Just for a while." The demon was now reclining in midair. "Until I can find a form of my own, that's all."

The man scratched his neck nervously. "I don't know…"

"Come on, I'll tell you the secrets of this town! Secret societies, future and current residential dirt!" Still, Six-Fingered Hand had doubts. The young man might have left the roof then if Bill hadn't said, "Anything on that machine you've been working on."

Six-Fingered Hand froze, turning to the demon. "H-how'd you…?"

"I told you: I know everything." Bill's hand erupted into a blue flame. "So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?" He held it out to Six-Fingered Hand.

After a moment, Six-Fingered Hand smiled.

"Deal."

The two shook hands. As soon as the grip loosened, Cipher vanished. Six-Fingered Hand looked around, confused, before he heard someone come up. He turned to discover Stan.

"You almost done?" Stan asked; he remembered the younger Stan clearly. Chocolate brown hair, dark eyes, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. He was a spitting image for his brother (which made sense, as they were twins).

"Yeah," Six-Fingered Hand followed Stan down the ladder. He noticed Stan looked a little worried, looking around the empty room.

"Look, I've been thinking… What if someone figures out about the Machine?" Stan brought up. Both had them had decided to keep everything that they've been working on secret. As long as it didn't directly concern them, this town's mysteries were to remain under wraps. However, of the two of them, Stan was a little more concerned with other people's safety. "We've been pretty noisy in the lab, and you know how light sleepers my brother and father are."

"Relax, we'll be fine." Six-Fingered Hand reassured.

"Still, we should develop, like, code words or something, just in case." The two walked towards the kitchen as Stan started naming a list. "'Snacks' could mean the Machine, 'Refills' could mean we need spare parts, you could become 'Six-Fingered Hand'…"

"'Six-Fingered Hand'?" His eyes widened.

"You know, in case we have to communicate over a phone. If people begin become suspicious, we might need nicknames."

"Well, I suppose…but why 'Six-Fingered Hand'?"

Stan shrugged. "You _were_ the one to help me find the first Journal. I thought 'Six-Fingered Hand' because of the cover."

"Oh."

Stan continued on, listing various code words, but Six-Fingered Hand didn't listen. He couldn't help but think of his conversation with Bill. Later on that night, he circled the date on the calendar, just to remember his first encounter with Cipher.

Over the next few months, Bill had kept true to his word. He hanged around constantly, always present at the back of his mind. However, that's when Six-Fingered Hand learned the most important thing about the Nacho-shaped demon:

_Never _make a deal with him.

Whenever Stan and he would get close to figure something out, Bill would have done something to prevent that breakthrough: destroy research, cause accidents to distract them, erasing memories altogether. Stan caught on quickly to Bill's antics, though. He had three copies of every page of research he'd created; the two of them got specialized tattoos in order to block Bill from their minds (as long as they were awake, anyway); when an accident happened, he'd simply got up and continued on without a second thought.

Stan became determined to crack the mysterious of Gravity Falls. He developed a group of select people to help solve the case: "the Brotherhood", as they became known (Six-Fingered Hand had no idea if they were still around). Days and nights had no difference to him anymore; all Stan cared about was that machine working.

Six-Fingered Hand, on the other hand, became a little more hesitant at the Machine's true purpose. Bill was constantly whispering in his ear, even with the tattoo. He spoke of a horrible darkness, out to destroy the town. And it would come, too, if Stan couldn't mind his own business. Six-Fingered Hand tried multiple times to talk Stan out of his search, but to no avail.

The two close friends soon only had fights. It was either discover the mysteries of the town or protect themselves. One night, their fight escalated to such a point that Six-Fingered Hand stormed out of the Shack.

"This town's mysteries will get us killed!" He had yelled, going to the woods.

"Ha! I'll believe that when I see it!" Stan slammed the door.

_You want to see it? _He had thought. _Fine!__I'll show you, then!_

He remembered only vague details from the night then on. Visiting Bill…asking for a clone…writing something on him…throwing the body in front of a semi…

By the next day, he'd beamed when he saw the headlines:

_**LOCAL FOUND DEAD**_

_**MURDER IN GRAVITY FALLS?**_

_**SEMI-TRUCK TRAGEDY**_

Stan had wanted proof?

He'd gotten it.

Six-Fingered Hand scowled.

_But because of that, I had to build this._

Yes, Six-Fingered had the other thing you never want to have with Bill: owe him a favor.

He knew he had to build the maze as soon as Bill said, "Remember that deal you made with me?" For the next three years, he'd come up with the floor plans, programmed basic monsters, tweaked it when needed.

But in all that time he an exit port installed. It was so sneaky that Bill overlooked it without a second glance. While he was awake, Bill couldn't snoop in his mind, and he was the one to watch the monitors.

That was where Stan was now.

But that was where he was worried: Six-Fingered Hand knew that every minute that passed, the closer Cipher could get to figuring out what was going on. A loop could only do so much, and Six-Fingered Hand yearned for nap. If Bill figured out what was going on, what was to stop him to try to delete the system again? The collar around his neck didn't help matters; what would stop Bill from choking him in his sleep? He couldn't send a message or code, like he'd planned on, so Stan was on his own. If Stan couldn't figure it out in time…

_No, don't think like that! Stan's going to figure this out! You've seen him do it before; what's to say he couldn't do it again?!_

His neck hairs pricked up. The man turned to see Cipher's shadow, passing next to the door. He settled back in his chair uneasily.

_He's got to._

* * *

**_*_Just to clarify, she never got to the story in "A Threat Revives". After Mabel showed her the Lamby-Lamby Dance, she, Phineas, and Ferb couldn't stop laughing, so Dipper just went to bed early. He forgot it by the next morning.**

* * *

_**A/N: You've got to love the fact that I've given a backstory to Six-Fingered Hand, and I STILL can't figure out a name for him.**_


	23. The Times They Are A Changin'

**Chapter Twenty-Two: The Times They Are A Changin'**

**Nicole's POV**

For a split second when I woke up, I thought I was on a life raft.

I was slightly embarrassed to discover I was wearing Dipper's vest, as I'd panicked that I was about to fall overboard.

As I recollected myself, I noticed Dipper's blue vest that had seemingly appeared on my back. It was tinier than I imagined; Dipper and I were relatively close in height, but the vest barely covered my back. It felt cool, kinda like a half-melted ice pack.

I attempted to get up. Either I'd grown too used to the pain or it had died on its own, because that dull throb had completely vanished. I was able to stand up, though when I tried to stretch my back, a sharp flash of pain went across my back. I briefly winced, but it left as soon as it came.

The vest had slipped off of my back, so I picked it up from the ground (even though another bolt of pain happened when I bent down). I was wiping off some sand when I heard some shuffling. Turing around, I saw Dipper was waking up.

"Hey," I greeted. Dipper raised his hand in response as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. I held out his vest. "Here." I placed it on the ground.

He looked at the vest, before looking back at me.

"You should keep it on until we get out," he told me. I would've asked why until I remember my still fully-exposed back, with my shirt in no condition to get fixed.

"…Oh. Yeah, that's probably a good idea." I picked up the vest and put it on; it was rather snug.

"Come on; the sooner we get moving, the better." Dipper stood up, getting his stuff. Well… I supposed I really couldn't blame him. The tension from last night's story still hung in the air. If I were him, I'd probably want to get out as soon as possible.

I looked to the ground, where Journal 1 was still in my bag. I remembered that was how this whole mess got started: before I met Bill (officially), or the Gnomes, even before Dipper, there was that book. Possibly the most bizarre medical handbook in the history of the world. It was extremely useful; heck, I'd even been taking down some notes in a notebook I'd snagged from Ferb.

But…now that I thought about it… What could I possibly use it for in the long run?

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

I probably would have bolted when Nicole was an arm's length from me if I didn't hear her say, "I want you to have it."

Looking up, I saw Journal 1 was in her hands. They were extended towards me.

"…You're serious?" I asked, staring at the book.

"Yeah," she told me. "I never got all too into mysteries and such, and by the end of this, I'll _never_ be able to look at it again. So, I figured… Why not?"

My gaze hadn't left the book. It was scary in similarities: the rough leather, the tattered cover… If it wasn't for the '1' in the hand, I would have thought it was my Journal.

Nicole's eyes fell to the ground before she sat down near me. "Look, this is probably not the best time for me to act all buddy-buddy. We've been trapped by a sadistic demon, there's the possibility of danger every five seconds, and I got _way _too personal last night. If it'll help, you can consider this a peace offering. I won't cross you, you don't cross me, and this can be the symbol of that." She looked back up. "Would that work?"

I stayed quiet. Here I was, staring at another part of the puzzle that was Gravity Falls. I could finally discover something more in this town!

For the first time in a while, I smiled.

"It could work." I replied, accepting the Journal.

A faint smile went across Nicole's face as I stuffed it into my bag. For once, something was actually going fine.

…So it shouldn't surprise you that a long, low growl erupted down the tunnel's walls.

* * *

**No POV**

"How are you and Ferb related?" Mabel asked.

She'd been noticeably more upbeat since Mermando's death, wearing a big grin. Mabel walked up and down along the rocks near the stream. The river had also gotten more promising; the water was growing rougher and wider, meaning they were getting close to the source of the water. As they continued along, Mabel began asking many questions about her companion, to ease her curiosity (or to get him to forget about the 'Kiss-O-Rage' ordeal). Phineas was more than happy to answer, as this was the first real time they've been alone in the Maze.

"We're stepbrothers." He explained. "My mom married his dad when we were young. We just don't prefer to call ourselves _step_brothers, that's all."

"Is that where Ferb gets his hair color from? I mean, is it dyed or what?"

"That's an interesting story, actually–." Phineas began, only to be cut off when a rock spiral dropped a few feet away from him. He yelped.

"Whoa! Are you okay?" She wore a look of worry.

"Yeah… But that was too close for my liking." He backed away nervously; it hadn't been the first time on their walk that the cave spirals fell, but that was the closest it had gotten. "I'll tell you the story later; we need to find the mouth of the river."

When he turned, however, he discovered he was talking to air; Mabel had gone near a crack in the rocks, peering inside.

"Oh my gosh…" Her eyes widened.

"Mabel? Is everything–?"

Phineas stopped once more when Mabel grabbed a pointed rock and pounded hard against the cracked surface.

"Whoa, easy Mabel!" Phineas flinched when another (much larger) rock collided with the crack. "What are you doing?!"

"There's…something…behind here!" She threw a huge rock at the crack, causing it to widen considerably.

Phineas glanced up nervously when the rest of the cave slightly vibrated at the impact. "Are you sure it's worth seeing whatever's behind there? I mean–."

He was interrupted _again_ when Mabel picked up her next rock of choice:

One that was as wide as she was (and heavy, going by her straining).

"Mabel, don't–!"

It was too late; Mabel had already pushed the rock into the crack, falling herself. Phineas shut his eyes, preparing for something bad to happen…

But nothing did.

He opened up his eyes to see a full exposed hole, Mabel lying inside it, trying to get up. He went over to help her up before seeing what Mabel had: a lower section, with damp, algae-covered walls, all with a pale, blue-ish light. But there was something else down there that really got his attention:

The mouth of a river.

"Cool! A shortcut!" Mabel happily decreed.

* * *

Soos felt…well…a bit like a third wheel.

…Well, technically he _was _a third wheel, but you get the idea.

He walked awkwardly between Wendy and Robbie as they continued along the dirt road. No one admitted it, but there was a...tension. Not the same one from before, when Wendy and Robbie couldn't even look at each other, but it was still present.

Soos felt his bandage begin to unstick again. He pressed his thumb again hard as he made a mental note to go see a doctor when they got out.

The outside world; God, it was hard to believe it had been only two days! It felt like five months (give or take)! What would it be like, back out there? His Abuelita would have a panic attack; who knows what sort of therapy he would need (then again, he was just fine with eating a candy monster's heart, so who knows?); and his father…

He frowned. _He wouldn't care. _Soos thought. _He's never cared. He never even showed at one single birthday when I was a kid._

He then remembered back to his tenth birthday. That was the last time he'd gotten a postcard from his Dad (his Abuelita most likely sent Soos' father a death threat after that day), most likely partying from New Orleans. The equivalent to a note card; that's all he's ever gotten from him.

Soos faintly smiled. That's was also the day he started work at the Mystery Shack. It was how he met Stan, Wendy, Dipper and Mabel. That was more than his father could _ever _give him.

His smile faltered. What was happening to them now, trapped in their own personal dungeon?

Soos was brought out of his thoughts by Robbie: "Hey, what's that up ahead?"

Soos and Wendy looked up. Not too far from where they were, they could see a brown, polished log house. It looked like it was just placed there, bought fresh from a store. But that wasn't what got their attention.

It was the fact that there was _smoke _coming from the chimney that got their attention.

"Dude, there could be some help there!" Soos optimistically pointed out.

"I dunno, Soos… The last time we went inside a building in the woods, it was Dusk 2 Dawn." Wendy reminded him.

He looked at the ground. "Well, that's where the sparkles are going." Soos told them. Indeed, the mysterious blue glitter were heading toward a cabin in the woods.

There was an uncertain glance between the three.

"Well, I don't see any other choices." Robbie shrugged. He began walking to the cabin.

Even though they slightly hesitated, Soos and Wendy followed.

* * *

"Come on, come on…" Stan input the billionth code he attempted.

The screen flashed red in rejection.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" He shouted.

The computer was a tough nut to crack. Bypassing all the security measures and firewalls was easy. Figuring out the _code _to unlock the computer, however, was proving to be rather difficult. He'd tried everything: various names, dates, locations, even a few corny jokes. But nothing was working.

"Kid, how's the rewiring coming along?" Stan hollered to Gideon. The white-haired 'psychic' was attempted to rewire the adapter; if that was isolated, it could better improve their chance of survival if it came down to Plan B: _'Destroy the core with a metal pipe'_.

"Nearly done!" The boy yelled back, examining a few cords. "Nothing's exploding, so I'm taking that as a good sign!"

_That make one of us, _he bitterly thought, reexamining the keyboard. _Think, Stan, think! The joke with Waddles worked… What would he put as the code?_

He rubbed his chin in thought as a chill suddenly went down his spine.

"Kid, did you feel that?" Stan turned around towards the door. He heard something echo through the hall outside…

Humming.

Someone was humming.

_And they were heading to the Core!_

"Gideon, hide!" Stan rasped, running behind some discarded crates. Gideon did the same thing on the opposite side just as someone walked in.

No… Not walking.

That someone who came in was _floating_.

Bill Cipher was calmly heading towards the computer's core, seemingly unaware of his two companions.


	24. The Beginning of the End, Part 1

_**A/N: Okay, this is going to be a short one, but it's also going to be the beginning of another (and final) two/three part series of chapters. Hopefully that will make up for it.**_

_**Also, I've been thinking of possible names for Six-Fingered Hand. Something along the lines of 'Fred' or 'Freddie'. I'm still open for suggestions, though.**_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: The Beginning of the End, Part I**

**Dipper's POV**

My jaw dropped as I saw Leaderuar.

You read that correctly; Leaderuar, _Leaderuar, _had gotten the idea to follow us down. The guy who was tricked by a much paler, _paper_ _clone_ was back.

I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Nicole probably wasn't doing any better; her white bandages on her lower back practically stuck out like headlights as she grabbed her bag.

"We need to run," she said. My head turned in aghast.

"I'm sorry; I don't think I heard that right." I replied. "Did you just say–?"

"Run," Nicole interrupted. "As in, 'scram'. 'Make a break for it'. 'Get away'. In other words, LEAVE!"

"What?! I'd thought you'd be the first person to stay and fight!"

"There's a difference between 'getting revenge' and 'being suicidal'. Staying would be the latter!"

I opened my mouth to speak again when another roar vibrated along the cave system. Nicole grabbed my arm.

"COME ON!" She shrieked. She practically dragged me by my arm as Leaderuar advanced.

* * *

**No POV**

"Alright, so what do we do now?" Mabel asked. Her finger was doodling in the crystal clear river water as Phineas' foot hit the damp ground.

"I don't know," Phineas admitted, untying the rope around his waist. "I guess we should wait for something, but I wouldn't know what."

Mabel scowled, groaning. "Waiting?! Sorry, Phineas, but I'm fed up with this maze! I'm not waiting anymore!" She began searching all around for something that could lead them out.

Phineas sighed. "Look, Mabel, as much as I would like to get out–."

He stopped when a rumbling sound shook the cave. Mabel, holding a small rock in one hand, turned to her companion.

"What was that?" She asked, with the red-head darting his eyes around for an answer.

It took until a very distinct noise sounded in the room that they were able to figure out where it was coming from.

Unfortunately, that noise was a loud crack.

Turning their heads, they saw a huge dam of purple-tinted rock. In the center of it all was a humongous split in the bedrock, extending from the bottom to the center. You know what was worse, though?

Leaking out of the opening was a rather big trickling of water.

Mabel and Phineas' eyes widened in unison.

"RUN!" Phineas screeched.

The two bolted as a practical tidal wave was coming straight for them.

* * *

After realizing the door was opened, Soos, Wendy, and Robbie were shocked to discover what was inside the cabin:

Absolutely nothing.

It was so surreal: the fireplace was lit, with the logs starting to noticeably deteriorate. The walls, a brown, had a few water colored paintings on them. There was a glass lamp on a brown table; the curtains, a red, weren't covering the window; and there was a calendar from the 1970's beside the bed. Honestly, the only thing that stuck out was the tacky carpet, under a comfy looking chair.

"Well… This place is surprisingly homey." Wendy broke the silence.

"Should… Should we look around?" Robbie looked at one of the paintings, which depicted some lilies on top of water.

"I guess…" Soos shrugged. He looked at Wendy.

"Yeah… Maybe we should." She held her arms uncomfortably, though, unsure of what to do.

They spread out. Soos drifted into a kitchen, where he opened up one of the cabinets to find a thing of medical supplies.

_Jackpot! _He smiled, grabbing some ointment and bandages.

Robbie had drifted outside onto the porch. There wasn't much there; just an old rocking chair against the now setting sun.

_But no one who lives here. _Robbie looked around the area, descending the porch to check around the small garden.

Wendy, meanwhile, was still in the parlor. She picked up a photograph, inside a black frame. The picture was torn in two, but the side that remained showed a child version of Stan, in front of a black-and-white sign that partially read _"-tery Tours: The Most Supernatural Tours in Town!"_ His arm was slung over someone's shoulder, but that was over the cut off part.

Wendy put it down before realizing that others were there. There was a picture of the original Mystery Shack opening, with the price of ten dollars (plus tax) for a tour; an alien-looking machine, with some circles around it in red ink; some fireworks, with the date _"July 4__th__, 1982" _scribbled on the bottom; and a clipping of a headline about a murder.

_What the…? _Wendy thought, raising her eyebrow high.

"Uh, guys? You might want to see this!" Robbie called. Wendy (putting down another picture frame) and Soos (patting down some bandages with an opened ointment tube in hand) came outside to discover Robbie standing in front of an opened cellar.

"Listen," he said. They did; if you tried hard enough, you could hear a soft voice, saying something. "Do you think–?"

"Maybe," Wendy said. "Who knows."

A small silence happened.

Soos went towards the door, stepping down into the cellar.

"Soos!" Robbie rasped. "What are you–?"

"Dude, we haven't gone wrong yet going into a building." Soos interrupted. "If there's a voice down there, maybe it'll help us."

Soos continued down the steps.

A moment or two later, Wendy and Robbie did the same, exchanging a nervous glance.

* * *

The idea of Bill simply floating around in front of him was enough to make Stan shiver.

The fact that he was currently hiding behind a crate in the _room _Cipher was floating around in was almost enough for him to throw a tire iron at the demon.

Why? Well, there was the fact that he trapped Stan in here… or for endangering his family… or just because…

Or for pretending to kill his friend.

A pang of regret filled Stan. That final night when he had seen Six-Fingered Hand, storming away from the Shack, warning Stan of their deaths. He didn't listen or stop Six-Fingered Hand when went into the woods. What were his final words to him? _"Ha! I'll believe that when I see it!"? _Well, he saw it.

It was sort of hard to misinterpret the headlines next morning.

The story goes that Six-Fingered was thrown in the middle of the highway just before a semi-truck came. The driver couldn't swerve out of the way in time, and he hit the man. By the time police arrived, Six-Fingered Hand was nothing more than a lifeless corpse. The real interesting part of all of this, however, was the message written on his hand:

_**HE WARNED YOU.**_

When Stan read the story the next morning, he nearly choked on the coffee he was drinking.

He'd assumed all these years that Bill had done it; he'd overheard their conversation, found the perfect opportunity, and killed Six-Fingered as a warning. It had definitely worked; he had stopped work entirely on the Machine for the longest time. It was part of the reason Stan never told Dipper or Mabel what was really going on in this town, out of fear for losing them, too. But now, with the advent of the maze…

It would make sense. Only Six-Fingered Hand would be insane enough to fake his own death (…well, Stan would, too, but that's beside the point). Maybe Bill pushed him to do it, maybe he didn't. But it was because of that event that this maze was here, Six-Fingered Hand supplying him with a built-in exit.

…Wait, why was he still calling him 'Six-Fingered Hand'? His name was–.

"Hey, what's this doing unplugged?" Bill's voice reminded Stan he wasn't alone. Peering over the edge, Stan witnessed Bill telepathically plugging the adapter's wires back into the Core. The old man frowned. Great, _now _they were going to have a ton of more work to do!

That wasn't the only thing that troubled him, though.

That also included what Bill said next:

"Boy, glad I caught that. There would be a chance that they could survive if I hadn't!"


	25. The Beginning of the End, Part 2

_**A/N: Well, apparently old habits die hard. Sorry about late posting (again), things just grew too frantic.**_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: The Beginning of the End, Part II**

**Dipper's POV**

I'm really getting sick of constantly running for my life.

The first couple of times, it's pulse-pounding. Even a bit exhilarating. Knowing that something is this close to ending your life is terrifying, but at least you can get _something _from it. Now, it's just getting repetitive, especially considering other options. Get the State Police (not the locals; let's face it, Blubs and Durland aren't going to do much) or attempt reasoning with it? Pfft, HA! Nope, you've gotta run!

Still, I didn't try breaking from Nicole's iron grip as the two of us darted down the passage.

While bolting from the gigantic monstrosity behind us, a few things passed through my mind:

1) The giant monster, naturally, as I nearly lost my shoe (and the foot inside it) many times.

2) Bill Cipher and my ever growing hatred of him.

3) Where we were going.

Shockingly, that was the first time the question had even crossed my mind. Where _were_ we going, anyway? No one's said a single detail about this place! Tyrone was too vague, Bill's just an enormous troll, and I doubt Nicole would know anything. We _seem _to be heading somewhere, but God only knows where that's at.

Nearly tripping over another pile of rocks took me out of my thoughts, reminding me what I was doing currently.

"So *pant* any plans aside from *wheeze* running for our lives?" I asked, the two of us turning a corner before a fireball could engulf us in flames.

"Well, *pant* let's face it: I usually don't!" Nicole replied, ducking under a low lining rock column (soon to be obliterated by the Leaderuar).

"I'm guessing *pant* that's a no, then?"

"Pretty much!"

We ran into an open cave, with no way out and no visible means of cover. Skidding to a stop, the two of us began panting as the rumbling footsteps of the Manotaur stopped. Surprised, we turned around to see the hulking figure of Leaderuar (who was too big to stand up straight in the entrance) huffing and puffing.

I'm pretty sure our eyes widened in unison as we both realized he was going to start breathing fire again… and we had no means for cover.

Finding no other choice, we began backing up slowly as he began taking a long, deep breath. The end seemed inevitable.

That is, until Nicole backed up to the edge of a hole. As the creature let unleashed nasal fire, Nicole had tripped, sending her backwards into the blackness.

Only, I hadn't known that until she grabbed the back of my red shirt, pulling me down with her.

The last bit of color I saw was red and orange flames, licking the roof of the hole as we descended into inky blackness.

* * *

**No POV**

As she struggled underwater, Mabel feared that she would drown to death.

…The irony of that situation hit her instantly, as her first technical boyfriend (at least, the one who _didn't _want her to make her a queen) was a mermaid.

Before her life could flash before her eyes, a hand yanked her to the surface above. When she broke through to air, Mabel began gasping as Phineas was right next to her.

"Come on!" he shouted over the sound of the flooding water. "We need to get to those rocks so we can float!" He pointed to some nearby pile.

Mabel quickly nodded as their feet quickly pounded the water to get to safety.

The place was filling up remarkably fast as they swam to the damp land. When Mabel was initially pulled under, the water was to her chest. Now, it was beginning to cover her mouth, and the two of them had to spit out water every few seconds.

After several moments, Phineas and Mabel managed to reach safety. The grabbed the sides of the floating "life rafts" as they caught their breaths.

But that wasn't the end of their troubles.

The quickly approaching ceiling, threatening to crush the two, was beginning to become a problem.

* * *

The cellar of the cabin looked almost as strange as the home above it.

Coming down to the basement, Wendy, Robbie, and Soos saw that the place was lit by torches. There was a simple light wooden desk, with some tools and red paint. Something resembling an alter stood on the far left, covered a purple table spread with golden trimmings.

"What the…?" Wendy began, glancing around the area.

The three went onto the grey, stone floor, curious of what this place was. As soon as they touched the cool ground, a voice suddenly picked up:

"_Hello Ice Bag, Stitched Heart, and Question Mark." _The voice greeted. It was gruff and old male's, his voice scratchy as if he'd been coughing a lot. _"My name isn't important. I'm afraid this is a recording, so I can't answer any questions you may have."_

"_I've been working with Bill for a while; I'm the one who knows this maze inside and out. You're currently in an 'off' zone: in other words, Bill can't see you here." _

"_What I'm about to ask of you will be extremely dangerous, but you have to do it, no matter what."_

A pause; the man seemed to be taking a deep breath. _"The red paint on the table? I need one of you to paint a star on the wooden table. After that, another one should read the spell on the table. When that's done... Brace yourselves."_

The audio stopped. Soos, Wendy, and Robbie looked at each other in uncertainty.

Robbie slightly sighed. "Come on, let's just paint the freaking star."

The three went to the wood table. Soos picked up the brush, getting ready to paint. However, Wendy put a hand on his.

"Robbie should do it," she advised. Robbie looked surprised.

"What? Why me?" he asked.

"Oh, come on! You're the one who can actually draw out of the three of us; do it!" She grabbed the paintbrush from Soos' hand and placed it in front of him.

Though glaring, Robbie snatched the tool from her.

He carefully painted a red, six-pointed star on the wood. His hand movements were as graceful as those of…well, an artist.

When he placed the brush back into the bucket, Wendy (though hesitant) picked up the piece of paper on the table, written in messy handwriting.

"_Spiritul…de…Red Star."_ Wendy began as best as she could. _"Du-ne…ia-ne…dega-jeze…ne ducă…foarte…departe?"_

Nothing happened in the few seconds that followed. Wendy was about to read over the spell again when a faint red tinge caught her eye. Looking up, she discovered the red star was suddenly glowing bright red. The alter behind it, too, was also getting a faint tinge. If that wasn't enough, a bronze, rusted key was slowly coming up in the air, having gone unnoticed on the alter. It moved around like how you would begin opening a door. Going sideways, the key turned, and a distinct unlocking sound was heard.

A tiny swirl appeared out of thin air, with the sound of sucking air becoming present. Now, there was another problem:

Soos, Wendy, and Robbie were beginning to get sucked in, along with everything else in the room.

* * *

"'Survive'?!" Gideon rasped, frantic. Bill had just left the room moments ago, leaving to attend to other matters. Stan was getting out of his hiding place when Gideon had spoken. "He's trying to kill everyone inside?!"

"Kid, there aren't many interpretations of the sentence _'There would be a chance that they could survive if I hadn't'_. So, yeah, I'd say he's attempting to kill everyone." Stan remarked

But by then, Gideon wasn't listening. He had grabbed that metal pipe from earlier, proceeding to charge at the Core again. Yet, once more, Stan stopped him mid-way.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Stan nearly shouted, with a tight grip on the pipe. "Or did you forget that destroying the Core would _instantly kill everyone?!_"

"Shut it, you old geezer!" Gideon told him, trying to get the pipe out of his hands. "If anyone's going down, it's gonna be by my hand! It's time we take matters in our own hands!" He went as far as to attempt to scratch Stan, but his manicured finger nails were too dull to do any harm.

_Jesus, this is embarrassing… _It took all his will for Stan not to roll his eyes. "Gideon, we need to–."

The old man fell silent when an alarm light went off. Even Gideon's grip loosened up a bit on the pipe, enough for Stan to yank it out of his hands. The young boy wore a scowl as Stan went by the computer, overlooking the squiggles and lines.

A look of silent horror crept slowly onto his face.

"Oh no."

* * *

_**A/N: In case you're wondering, the spell Wendy said is in Romanian. And yes, when I write magic spells in future stories, I'll use Romanian (it'll come up quite a bit later on, too.)**_


	26. The Beginning of the End, Part 3

**Chapter Twenty-Five: The Beginning of the End, Part III**

**No POV**

Stan began to type something down as Gideon groaned.

"What went wrong this time?" He asked; surprisingly, facing the possibility of one's death on multiple occasions has made him null to these kinds of things.

"Everyone's gone." Stan simply replied. Gideon's eyes perked up, his eyes returning to Stan.

"Pardon?"

"It's weird; they were there one minute, but now none of their programs are rendering."

"…Which would mean…?"

"*sigh* Either Bill's unplugged the Maze, killing everyone inside…"

"Gee, that's real promising."

"...or they went through a crack in the system."

"A _what_?"

"You know, a crack; in a system like this, the smallest of them could mean a way out for the others trapped inside."

Before Gideon could respond, the computer beeped again. Looking on the screen, Stan and Gideon saw a blue dot appear, closely followed by another one. Two more showed up, along with one… two… three others. Gideon and Stan had equally surprised expressions.

"Mother of Betsy… Are those…?" Gideon's voiced trailed off as Stan bolted to the staircase they'd entered through.

* * *

Nicole thought she had broken another few bones when she collided, back first, to blackness.

Dipper's vest was actually partially useful, as the insulation cushioned the fall, but only marginally so. She could imagine Dipper (now right next to her) being in a bit of pain after a fall like that.

She groaned, sitting up as Dipper asked, "Anything broken?"

"No," she replied. "You?"

"Not as far as I can tell." He got off the ground.

Dipper was wiping off some dust when the two of them heard two separate screams, descending towards the ground. The two new people hit the floor, rolling a bit after the collision. One of them, the one closer to Nicole and Dipper, groaned as she held her head. It only took a glance at the raspberry sweater around her waist for Dipper to recognize who it was.

"Mabel?!" He exclaimed. The female brunette looked up.

"Dipper!" Despite her injuries, Mabel tackled her brother in a hug. She was beaming as Nicole noticed Phineas had gotten right beside her.

"Oh, uh…" Nicole fumbled for some greeting, looking over her forlorn and weary friend. He interrupted her by grabbing her hand in a small squeeze.

"I'm glad you're okay." He said. Phineas wasn't crazy enough as to attempt _hugging _her, so he figure a hand hold would work just as well. And it did, judging by Nicole's small smile and returning of the hand holding.

"Yeah," she told him. "I'm glad you're okay, too."

The two friends let their hands drop to the side as Mabel asked, "Are you guys alright?"

"We're fine," Dipper reassured, beginning to regain oxygen from Mabel's bear hug. "Psychologically scarred, physically in pain, but fine."

It was then Mabel noticed that Nicole was wearing Dipper's vest. "Hey, what's with the...?" She stopped before gaining a "knowing" smirk. "Ooh, I see."

"…See what?" Nicole asked, honestly confused.

"Oh, just the fact that you guys had some intimate alone time." She nudged her brother. The two of them gained a blush.

"Her back was scratched up by Leaderuar! It had to be covered up!" Dipper tried to explain.

"_Suuure_ it was." Mabel winked at Dipper, whose blush grew a crimson red.

"What's she talking about?" Phineas whispered to the flushed Native American, only to see her digging her face into her hands as a response.

Before Mabel could press for details about their "intimate" relationship, a swirling portal appeared out of the blue. Three people popped out: Wendy, Soos, and Robbie. Their bodies hit the floor as the four kids noticed their arrival.

"Wendy/Soos!" Dipper and Mabel shouted the names of their friends in unison, before running up to give them hugs. Mabel looked over to see Robbie standing awkwardly off to the side.

"…And Robbie!" She said, breaking her hug from Soos. She stood in silence for a moment in front of the teen before offering a fist bump. Though rolling his eyes, Robbie accepted. _Better than nothing, _he figured.

"What happened to you?" Phineas asked Soos, either having a genuine curiosity or just wanting to change the subject.

"Pterodactyls, dude." He simply answered, looking vacantly ahead. "Pterodactyls."

"Uh…" Phineas' eyes darted around the room. "That really didn't answer my question…"

"I'll explain later." Wendy whispered to him, before saying louder, "Anyone got any ideas on where we are?"

The group of seven looked around the black room, not seeing anything more than darkness.

"Not really," Dipper began. "Maybe we–."

He was interrupted by another person entering the picture. This time, they didn't drop onto the floor. Instead, a nearby trapdoor flew open, revealing…

"Grunkle Stan!" The twins once more shouted in glee. They ran to the old man and nearly tackled him in a hug. Stan happily returned the favor.

"Are you two hurt?" Stan surveyed his Great Nephew and Niece as they broke the hug. "I swear, if Bill laid a freaking _finger _on either one of you…!"

"We're fine, Stan." Dipper reassured, hiding his surprise on Stan's sudden concern of them.

Gideon, meanwhile, had left the opened trap door, heading near Nicole and Phineas. As soon as he came close enough, Nicole's nose crinkled and she had a coughing fit.

"Blah! Dipper was right; you _do _bathe in hairspray!" Nicole practically choked, thinking back to their conversation in the Diner.

Gideon's eyes narrowed. "Do I even know you?" He asked.

"Hey, how'd you get down there?" Mabel peered down into the trapped door.

"Long story," Stan replied, silently adding, _One that involves possibly killing your pig. _"All I know is that it's a way out. It could be dangerous–."

"Who cares?" Robbie was already nearing the staircase, ready to descend it. "If it's a way out, I'm going down."

The Goth teen began walking down the stairs without another word, leaving the others in silence.

"He's got a point." Wendy shrugged. Everyone mumbled some sort of agreement as they all traveled down the stairs.

* * *

"Uh, Cipher? You may want to take a look at this."

Six-Fingered Hand sat in front of blank monitors. It was extraordinary; one minute, everyone seemed to be running from something or near death. The next? They all vanished in thin air! Now, it was just plain, automated backgrounds. It was like some outside source had just removed them with the click of a button!

…Okay, yeah, it was him.

Well… What could you really expect? As previously mentioned, Six-Fingered wasn't totally into the idea of "kill all humans just 'cause". He'd worked on loopholes, exit ports, guides… Any and all things that could help. He didn't care about risks; he needed to help those poor blokes trapped inside. Because, let's face it, Bill wouldn't have done this at all if it didn't mean bumping off some of his greatest threats for world domination.

…Actually… Now that he thought about it… What did Glasses and Llama have to do with any of this?

Their selection seemed…random. Even for _Bill_ it was out of left field! They weren't in Gravity Falls, so they didn't know what was happening; they'd never encounter any member of the group outside of each other before then; sure, they're smart or have weapon prowess, but it isn't anything _too _threatening. Heck, bringing them here seems like even _more _of a gamble!

As he pondered on these thoughts, the dream demon known as Bill floated in. He didn't make any noise, so Six-Fingered was slightly jostled at his sudden appearance. He quickly got over it, though, as Cipher asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know," Six-Fingered could feel himself controlling all those little mannerisms he had when he lied. "One minute they were there, but the next… poof!"

He didn't know how Cipher would react. Would he get mad? Destroy everything in sight? Go even crazier than he already was?

Instead, Bill had the most frightening reaction of all:

He shrugged.

"Okay," he said, beginning to float out.

Six-Fingered was shocked. "'Okay'? That's it?"

"Yeah. What, were you expecting something else?"

"Well… Maybe, I don't know. I thought you'd react in a lot of different ways. But an 'okay' wasn't necessarily one of them."

He shrugged once again. "Hey, you win some, you lose some." The demon left without another word.

…_Yeah, he's up to something. _Six-Fingered thought, scanning the empty monitors once more.

* * *

Once Dipper, Mabel, Nicole, Phineas, Stan, Gideon, Soos, Robbie, and Wendy went down once more into the trapdoor, nothing had changed. Wendy was stuck picking off cobwebs out of her hair as dust kicked up from the stairs. However, once they reached the bottom, things got weird.

Instead of the Core, the nine participants found themselves in a cave. Unlike inside the Maze, these cave walls were a light brown, with the exit right in front of their faces. Not five feet away was the opening, which held the crisp sunlight from the surrounding forest of Gravity Falls. It was almost impossible to imagine seeing the outside world again, especially considering everything that had happened within the last forty-eight hours.

But, like dehydrated travelers in the Gobi Desert, the nine began stumbling towards the exit.

Then, stumbling became jogging.

Finally, jogging became a full-on sprint.

Soos was the first one to reach the pine forest, nearly collapsing in the cool summer night. Next was Robbie, soon followed by Gideon. Wendy collapsed in a coughing fit into the damp, recently rained upon grass, with Soos and Robbie going to help her up.

Grunkle Stan was about to head out as well when a loud _crack _echoed within the cave. He darted his head around to discover the rock floor had a large crack in it, rapidly growing towards the center.

…Right under Dipper, Mabel, Phineas, and Nicole's feet.

"No!" The old man yelled just as the four preteens dropped down into a recently created abyss. Stan dived in an attempt to grab one, but the cavern had closed as quickly as it had opened. It left Grunkle Stan to fall into dirt, with four screams to starting to fade away.


	27. I'll Be Watching

_**A/N: Wow, second-to-last chapter already? Jeez, what a trip it's been!**_

_**Also, I'd like to apologize for all the cliffhangers I've been leaving you guys on. I promise those are done.**_

…_**Possibly. Maybe I'll leave you on one for old time's sake by the end.**_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six: I'll Be Watching**

**Nicole's POV**

Okay… Is it me? Am I just a magnet for these kinds of things?

I mean… Wow. Really? Five feet–FIVE FEET! FIVE FREAKING FEET FROM THE EXIT! WHY ME?! WHY ANY OF US?! AUGH!

…

So, anyway.

"Is anyone dead?" I asked, getting off the ground (for the EIGHT BILLIONTH-ah, forget it).

"No," Phineas answered.

"Not yet," Dipper groaned.

"My insides hurt," Mabel complained, grabbing her stomach. "Oh wait, nevermind. That was just my arm. I think I landed on it."

Mabel got up and moved her right arm. She screamed.

Phineas and Dipper had scrambled up before she continued. "Yep… Definitely broke my arm. I guess you can call me 'Mabel, the One-Armed Wonder'!" She attempted a laugh, but it soon ended when Mabel saying, "Still really hurts."

Dipper was carefully placing the hurt arm over his shoulder as Phineas looked around the room. "Where are we?"

I looked around the room alongside him. It was a rocky section, the ceiling looking like it was five miles up, with a red and orange light coming from the floor. I couldn't say if it was lava or not, as the whole section of brown Earth we were on covered whatever laid beneath us, but it sure was hot in there. Though, considering Bill's a psychopath, I didn't necessarily rule out Hell, either.

As if on cue, some freaky demonic laughter filled the room.

"Speak of the Devil," I muttered, almost recognizing the voice as soon as I heard it.

I don't think it comes as much as a surprise to anyone that it turned out to be Bill.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

The second Bill entered into the room, it took all my strength not to rescind him.

…Am I using that right? "Rescind"? I only came across it once, so I _think _it means… Sorry, got a bit off track.

Back to the poor man's Eye of Providence, Bill said, "Well, well… Pine Tree, Shooting Star, Glasses, and Llama. I have to say, you've surprised me."

"Surprised that we're still alive?" Nicole bitterly spat.

Of course, Cipher probably doesn't know what a "rhetorical question" is. "Uh... yes _and_ no, Llama. I'm…'pleasantly shocked' more than anything. On the one hand, this means that Operation: Cipher Wheel still has a lot more work to be done on it." He paused; whether it was for dramatic effect or not is anyone's guess. "On the other hand, though, I can still have a little more _fun_ with you all!" If the dude could smile, I'm guessing he'd be doing it now.

"You mean… This wasn't it?" Mabel grew a deathly pale.

"Not even close!" He laughed. The dream demon floated near us (a little too nonchalantly, if I may add), continuing, "This whole thing was a test run, after all."

"TEST RUN?!" Nicole, turned to Bill, shouted so loudly I'm surprised she didn't take down the cave. "YOU MEAN WE'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THAT AGAIN?!"

Her fists clenched as Bill considered. "For now… No. I don't have anything more to do to you. But, say, four years down the line…"

The Native American growled, lifting her fist to punch him. Before the punch could come in contact with his eye, however, Bill vanished.

Leaving me getting punched square in the jaw.

"AH!" I yelled, putting my free hand over the red spot on my chin. Jeez, that girl could punch _hard!_

Nicole cringed when she realized what had happened. "Sorry," she apologized.

Bill, reappearing a few feet away, laughed. "See! If you were dead, I would have missed that!"

The two of us glared at him as Phineas spoke up. "Wait, if you wanted us alive so badly, why attempt to kill us with monsters?"

"Eh, you have to leave it to fate sometimes." Bill shrugged, treating it like it was totally reasonable (which it WASN'T).

Phineas had a look of confusion beginning to grow on his face as Mabel brought up, "Hey, we got Mermando, didn't we?"

_Mermando was there? _ I wondered. _Well, we got Tyrone, so I guess that makes sense._

However, Bill looked as if he had no idea what she was talking about. "Who? I don't remember–." He began before stopping. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."

Before any of us could press for more details, Bill continued, "As I was saying, I have to do _a lot _before I can bring you four back in. The Maze needs to be reconstructed to perfection, I need to get rid of a loose end or two, and I still don't know how I can bring the green haired kid in!"

Phineas seemed to perk up at this. "Ferb? What does he have to do with-?"

"Another time, Glasses, another time." Bill interrupted. "But for now, I have some unfinished business to take care of." He took off his tiny hat and tipped it. "Until then, I'll be watching!"

There was a bright flash.

In the next instance, he was gone.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

…Wow. Every moment that passes now, I find myself hating Bill more and more.

"What just happened?" Phineas asked to no one in particular.

I gave a sigh of exasperation. "Who knows?" I replied, rubbing my temples. "Just be glad it's over."

In the next moment, there was a low rumble. Looking to the right, we saw that a smaller cave open up, with a sliver light pouring out of it. The four of us exchanged a look.

"I'm going first," I proclaimed, heading to the door. Phineas looked like he was about to protest when I gave him a look. Not an angry look; more of an _I-don't-want-anymore-of-you-to-get-hurt-so-don't-fight-me-on-this _look. The red-head exchanged my glance, turning back to Dipper (the red spot where I punched him still very visible) and Mabel (clearly fighting back tears over her broken arm). Phineas' gaze went to the ground as he walked back towards the Pines twins, as I began to ascend the cramped, rough cave that had mysteriously appeared.

* * *

**No POV**

"Let me through!" Stan shouted. The authorities had arrived rather quickly, now that they had learned that they had been in the middle of the woods the whole time. Then again, they _were _missing for two days, so speed was necessary. The majority of parental guardians were there: Mr. and Mrs. Valentino had been among the first to arrive, showing concern about their son (though darkly joking how they "hope not have a sudden business spike", as they ran a funeral home); Wendy's dad, Manly Dan, was holding an ice pack to her eye as she was getting her arms patched up; Soos' Abuela was prying for details of Soos' journey, seeming like she was in desperate need of popcorn; and Bud was listening to Gideon in the middle of his hissy fit, wearing a dumb grin. The Flynn-Fletchers were there, too, and were growing increasingly concerned at the fact that neither Phineas nor Nicole had come out. They had done what Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland had instructed – stay calm and let the "professionals" handle this – but Stan wasn't ready to sit down and cooperate yet.

"Mr. Pines, we have to ask you to back down," one of the policemen restraining him ordered.

"My Great Niece and Nephew are in there!" He protested, attempting to squirm through.

"We understand," commented the other officer, "but we need you to cooperate with us, Mr. Pines!"

"NOT TODAY!" He shouted, dropping a smoke bomb on the ground. The distraction was enough for the two officers' grips to loosen, allowing Stan to break free and sprint to the cave.

"HEY!" One of the two cops shouted, with Stan nearly at one of the walls. However, it was in that moment that a hole materialized. It was a rather small hole, looking cramped inside. But that wasn't the thing that really got his attention; no, _that_ was the black, stringy hair, pulled back like it was in a braid.

Or, more importantly, the person attached to it: Nicole, one of the four trapped inside the cave.

She gasped in air as she appeared outside the hole. Grunkle Stan hurried over to the preteen as she lifted herself out.

"Are they…?" Stan began.

"Alive," she croaked out, still gasping fresh air. The officers helped the young girl up as a dig crew began hacking away at dirt. A few moments later, Phineas, Dipper, and Mabel flinched at the sudden return of sunlight, with one of the diggers announcing, "Hey, I can see them!"

When the three finally emerged onto land, all of the nine whom had been in that Maze thought the same thing at the same time:

_We're safe._


	28. Good Night and Good Luck

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Good Night and Good Luck**

**Nicole's POV**

It's been a few days. Long past the six-day "vacation" we had "won" at the beginning of this whole ordeal. Stan must have decided to cut the Flynn-Fletchers some slack (that or he'd forgotten) because he hadn't charged us for the additional nights. Though he _did _double the price of Ferb's new journal, so maybe _that's _where he's getting the extra income…

Anyway, we were forced to stay for an additional four nights because of a cancelled flight. It was fine with me and Phineas; both of us had to visit the hospital after escaping the Maze. Phineas had a few broken ribs, a mild case of malnutrition, and a sprained wrist. I, on the other hand, had a mild case of dehydration, also broke a few ribs, and learned that my ankle (the one I injured back with the Gnomes) was still a bit sprained. I had to get stitches for the huge claw marks on my back, awkwardly avoiding the doctor's questions about everything else on there. There weren't any more clean shirts for me to wear, so I had to resort to my ratty old jacket when I gave Dipper back his vest.

The last few days have been…strained, to say the least. Mr. and Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher have _no _idea what happened in there (not that we planned on telling them), so they really didn't know what had happened. Candace has been totally in the dark, only attempting to get information out of me once or twice. The only person who has some idea of what happened is Ferb, as Phineas has been telling him about it, but even he's largely unaware of everything.

It wasn't just the Flynn-Fletchers, though. That Robbie guy hasn't been around town for the past few days. I haven't seen that Gideon kid since the authorities arrested him after he got checked out by a doctor (unscathed, apparently). Wendy still attended work, but she was rather despondent, coughing occasionally (she had contracted acute bronchitis). Soos was probably the one recovering the best out of us, despite having the most visible injury; the stitches he had gotten hadn't fully faded. When asked, he told some story about a Pterodactyl, but it clearly wasn't affecting him too much. I asked him how he was getting along so well one day in the shop.

He shrugged. "You just deal with these kinds of things," he told me.

…Yeah, who _knows_ what he was talking about?

Mabel's also been doing fine, despite her arm being broken. Actually, she might have been doing better, as she's been getting quite a couple of boys' attention. We all signed her cast, though Phineas easily had the best handwriting.

Phineas' recovery was a bit slow at first. He didn't talk for a full day after we got out. Still, he got a little better as he told his story to Ferb. The Flynn was beginning to readjust by Night Two, even though some pains from before seemed to pop up.

Dipper's…well, he's Dipper. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a read on the guy. His jaw was fine – my punch hadn't even caused any swelling – but the dude was also abnormally quiet. He could talk to Mabel, yours truly, even Phineas alright, but he couldn't seem to talk to his Grunkle or Soos; heck, _Wendy _was clearly a challenge for him! Though, of all of us, he had the best excuse for staying silent: Journal 1, and trying to decipher what was inside. He was always in his room, chewing a pen in his mouth as a notepad lay open in front of him.

"I can't believe I might be this much closer to discovering the secrets of this town!" Dipper had said one night. He looked at the notepad briefly before seeming to remember something. "Where'd you find this thing, anyway?"

"Lying in some hole, I think; you can dig up quite a bit in this town." I replied. He returned to his Journal as I began to descend the ladder.

I remember Ferb brought up once that, when I lie, I have this nervous reflex that causes my fingers to twitch.

When I answered Dipper, I made sure to control that little impulse.

* * *

You might have noticed that I didn't bring up Stan above.

Well… It's a funny story with him…

It began on Day Three on our extended stay at "Casa de Pines". I was drinking the second cup of coffee I'd had that day (even though I hated caffeine) when Dipper came in. He barely gave me a second look as he began tearing up the place. He scoured on and below shelves, under Stan's canned meat ("It's for the apocalypse," Stan answered when Ferb asked. "Wait, aren't you mute?"), even checked the fridge. After all of that, he groaned in frustration. I cleared my throat, causing the preteen to turn and notice me.

"What are you doing?" I asked; this was strange even for _him_.

"Journal 1's gone," Dipper replied, pushing a few cans of soup past. "You didn't happen to see it, did you?"

"Not since you had it," I told him. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Dipper said (though I knew he didn't mean it). "Just… Tell me if you see it, okay?"

"Yeah, I will." I'd answered. He left the room, presumably to tear up the rest of the Shack.

Again, I made sure to control my finger twitch as he left.

* * *

I never necessarily _saw _Journal 1 again.

However… I think I know where it ended up.

Let's go back to the previous night. I was having trouble sleeping (as usual), so I snuck downstairs as everyone slept. I was grabbing a glass of water when I heard a heavy door opening and closing. I peered down the living room, to the door that connected to the Gift Shop. A translucent blue light flooded the room. It flickered on and off a few times before dying the last time. I quickly ducked behind a chair as the bead curtain was pushed away by Stan. He held a lit lantern in his hands, carefully creeping across the room. The old guy didn't give me as much as a look as he headed upstairs, blowing out his lantern on the staircase.

To this day, I don't know where he came from or what he was doing. But one thing became clear as I emptied the water glass, preparing to ascend the stairs once more:

Stan had _something_ to do with Journal 1's disappearance.

* * *

By the next morning, the Flynn-Fletchers finally got a new flight booked back to Danville. Breakfast was spent rather somberly, after the whole meal was spent in silence. By the end of the morning, Mr. and Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher were putting the remainder of their stuff in a taxi.

"Thank you so much for letting us stay at your home, Mr. Pines." Mr. Fletcher shook Stan's hand. "We know you've been through a lot," Mrs. Flynn continued, "and we really appreciate how hospitable you've been."

"Wasn't a problem," Stan's smile looked forced; maybe he was reconsidering charging us for the extra nights. "Just know, if you ever come back, you can swing by for a visit."

"Of course," Mr. Fletcher replied, though we all knew we weren't coming back. _Ever._

Candace was waving goodbye to Wendy as Mabel hugged Phineas. "I'll miss you," she told him.

"Same here," Phineas broke the hug. "Call when you feel like it."

"Okay," Mabel smiled as Phineas walked with Ferb to the car. Her hand was holding something (Phineas' number, maybe) as I saw Dipper from the corner of my eye. His hands were in his pockets as he looked off to the side.

"So…" He said.

"So." I said right back; to think, we could survive Bill's Maze, but God help us when it came to small talk!

There was a silence. "Would you like to-?" We spoke in unison, awkwardly laughing when we realized what happened.

"You go," I told him.

He scratched the back of his neck in nervousness. "Would you…like to keep in touch?" Dipper asked; he had hesitated a little.

"Yeah. I would, actually." I answered. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? I didn't…" He began, but shook his head. "Nevermind. So, do you write letters or…?"

I gave a small smile, taking out a notepad from inside my pocket. Even with half the book filled with notes from Journal 1, I managed to flip to a blank page. I wrote my name in pencil, and put my cell phone number under it.

Ripping out the paper, I handed it to him. "Here," I said.

He blinked, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing (which made the both of us). Then, he had a small grin, accepting the paper.

"Call whenever," I told him.

"Yeah," He said. "I will."

The taxi driver honked, reminding me that I needed to head out. After a small wave, I headed into the taxi, squeezing between the boys in the backseat. As soon as the door was shut, the driver began driving away.

"So, did you guys enjoy your trip?" The man asked.

I felt my phone vibrate. Taking it out from my pocket, I saw it was a text message from an unknown number. The message read:

**Hey, it's Dip.**

I softly chuckled, looking up at the driver.

"I'm starting to now," I answered, returning to my phone to text a response.

* * *

**No POV**

Six-Fingered was placing some old circuit boards in a box when Bill floated in.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "You disappeared for six hours without a word!"

The demon shrugged. "Oh, personal business, that's all." He looked over Six-Fingered Hand's shoulder, watching him put the box up. "So, do you happen to know something about 'the Brotherhood'?"

The man stopped for a moment. "…The what?"

Cipher floated around nonchalantly. "It was something Stan mentioned to Gideon one night. I thought you would know something about it."

The old geezer, realizing what had happened, chuckled. "He probably just made it up; he needed to tell _something _to that kid!"

"I guess that makes sense."

The two were in silence for a bit. Finally, Bill asked, "How long do you think we've known each other?"

Six-Fingered Hand thought for a moment. "I dunno… A long time. Maybe twenty or thirty years."

"Hmm… Let's play it safe and call it thirty." The demon replied.

Six-Fingered stopped what he was doing, looking up in confusion.

"Bill," he began, "what are you talking-?"

He stopped when he saw a light bulb being pointed to his forehead. It belonged to a gun of some sort, which was gold and brown colored. It was small and had a red glass cover where Cipher's eye was hovering. There was a small dial on the side. If he had been on the other side, just before a bright white light flashed, he would have seen these words programmed into the machine:

_**GRAVITY FALLS MYSTERIES**_

But when that white light had flashed, either through the machine itself or because of Bill, he fell unconscious. The man slumped onto the floor.

Bill placed the gun on the table as he floated next to Six-Fingered Hand's ear.

"You do not remember anything." The demon started off with the truth, before continuing with lies. "Your name is 'Freddie Fingers'; well, it's the closest you _have_ to a name, considering you forgot about it long ago. You have been a vagabond for nearly thirty years now, living off whatever you can find. You sleep in the trees; you scavenge for berries; but most of all, you refuse help. You are a stranger to the world of humanity. It's like you've never even been a part of it. Afraid of being an outcast, you never interact with hikers, campers, or anyone else in the woods. If they press you for information, you'll make up a lie. You do not know what is real and what is fake; even I may just be a voice in your head. You'll travel south for the rest of your days, trying to find something, _anything_, to jog your memory. By the time you awake, you will continue on with your quest. You'll forget my voice, but not my words; these words are the closest things you have to memories."

The demon snapped his fingers once and Six-Fingered was gone, presumably heading to a far off forest.

In the meantime, Bill grabbed a clear tube out of the machine. Inside was the last thirty years of Six-Fingered Hand's life. It contained answers; a _lot _of answers. There even might have been a way to destroy Cipher in there; the two _had _known each other for a long time, after all.

But we'll never know.

Bill Cipher threw the tube on the floor, causing it to shatter into a million pieces.

Now, the "loose end", as Bill had called him, was gone.

* * *

_**-Fin-**_

_**A/N: Okay, if you haven't guessed already, I will be writing a sequel to this. It's not going to be out for a while (not to mention I have other stories I'd like to write), but it will come eventually.**_

_**Thank you so much for sticking to this story! This really has been a huge learning process for me, since this was my first story on , and it's been quite a ride. A big shout out for all the reviews, follows, and favorites I've received; thank you for both your support and feedback, all of it was great!**_

_**I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**_


End file.
